2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Canadiens vs. Sabres Eastern 2nd Round preview

The second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs features eight teams in eight best-of-7 series. Today, NHL.com previews the Eastern Conference Second Round between the Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres.

(3A) Montreal Canadiens vs. (1A) Buffalo Sabres

Canadiens: Defeated Lightning 4-3 in first round

Sabres: Defeated Boston Bruins 4-2 in first round

Season series: BUF: 2-2-0, Canadiens: 2-2-0

Game 1: Wednesday at Buffalo (7 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC)

There are no secrets between the Buffalo Sabres and the Montreal Canadiens.

The teams each play in the Atlantic Division and played each other four times this season, splitting the series 2-2-0 with each team scoring 13 goals.  

"We know them, they know us, so it'll be a battle," Buffalo captain Rasmus Dahlin said Monday. "It comes down to compete, it comes down to who wants it more every shift. Puck battles, box-outs, stuff like that. It's going to be so tight, so it takes a lot to score goals in the series, I think."

The Sabres won their first playoff series since 2006-07 with a 4-1 victory against the Boston Bruins in Game 6 of the first round at TD Garden in Boston on Friday. Montreal eliminated the Tampa Bay Lightning with a 2-1 win in Game 7 on Sunday.

Buffalo, the No. 1 seed from the Atlantic Division, has home-ice advantage in the second round against the Canadiens, who are the No. 3 seed from the Atlantic.

"It's one step in the right direction. That's it," forward Alex Tuch said. "Every team sets out in training camp to try to be the best at the end of the year, to try to hoist the Stanley Cup, so obviously that's a goal for our team as well.

"We're one round in the playoffs. In our eyes, we haven't done anything yet. We're going to enjoy this win, this series win, and we're going to move on and be ready for whoever we play next. Because we're hoping it's a long road ahead for us."

Tuch (four goals, three assists) and Tage Thompson (two goals, five assists) led the Sabres against the Bruins with seven points each. Forward Peyton Krebs (two goals, four assists) had six points, and defenseman Bowen Byram (three goals, two assists) had five.

Alex Lyon went 3-1 with a 1.14 goals-against average and .955 save percentage after taking the starting role from Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen for Game 3. 

"We know they're a good team," said Montreal forward Alex Newhook, who scored the series-winning goal against the Lightning. "They've shown that in the regular season. A lot of skill. A lot of pace. It's going to be a tough series."

In the regular-season series, Thompson led Buffalo with seven points (three goals, four assists) in the four games.

Lyon was 0-2-0 with a 3.11 GAA and .902 save percentage in two starts. 

Captain Nick Suzuki (one goal, five assists) and defenseman Lane Hutson (two goals, four assists) led the Canadiens with six points each in the first round against the Lightning. Jakub Dobes was 4-3 with a 2.03 GAA and .923 save percentage.

Suzuki led Montreal with eight points (two goals, six assists) in the four games against Buffalo during the regular season, and forward Cole Caufield had six points, including four goals. Hutson (one goal, three assists) and defenseman Noah Dobson (four assists) each had four points.

Dobes was 2-0-0 with a 2.00 GAA and .943 save percentage. 

"They have a lot of speed, a lot of skill," said Buffalo forward Ryan McLeod. "They play with a lot of pace and they're well coached so it's going to be a good test for us. They're a younger team like us so that's going to be fun. They play with a high level of intensity so it's going to take all of us going."  

The Sabres and Canadiens have played in the playoffs seven times, with Montreal winning four of the series. The two teams haven't met since 1998, when the Sabres swept the Canadiens in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

Game breakers

Canadiens: Hutson's fingerprints are on every part of Montreal's game. It shouldn't be surprising; he played a team-high 27:23 per game during the first round. Yes, several games went into overtime, but he was still thrown over the boards at every opportunity. His skating ability and a high hockey IQ allowed him to survive and thrive against a Lightning team that was loaded with high-end talent. He finished the series with two goals, including the overtime winning in Game 3, and tied for the team lead with six points. His 14 shots were tied for second with forward Ivan Demidov, behind forward Juraj Slafkovsky (18). The 22-year-old had 78 points (12 goals, 66 assists) in 82 games during the regular season. 

Sabres: Tuch is a dangerous weapon. The forward tied Thompson for seven points in the first round against the Boston Bruins, and led the team with four goals, one more than defenseman Bowen Byram. Tuch, who had 66 points (33 goals, 33 assists) in 79 game this season is a big body (6-foot-4, 219 pounds) at wing, who plays a strong 200-foot game. But it's his ability to score big goals at big times that could help push the Sabres to the Eastern Conference Final.

Goaltending

Canadiens: Jakub Dobes was the Montreal MVP in the first round. In the final three games of the series against a veteran Lightning team, Dobes allowed four goals on 102 shots. His only loss in that stretch was a 32-save loss in Game 6, a 1-0 defeat in overtime. In Game 7, he made 28 saves in a 2-1 victory, in which his team was outshot 29-9 and did not have a shot in the second period. Dobes was 2-0-0 with a 2.00 GAA and .943 save percentage in two regular-season games against the Sabres.

Sabres: Buffalo started the first round with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in net; it ended it with Alex Lyon. It all started with a Morgan Geekie flip of the puck from the neutral zone into the Sabres defensive zone, a nothing play that suddenly became something big when the puck hopped over Luukkonen's glove for the Bruins' second goal of Game 2. Lyon replaced Luukkonen 16 seconds into the third period, with the score at 4-0. He did not give the net up again. In the series, Lyon had a 1.14 goals-against average and a .955 save percentage, starting the final four games of the series. Luukkonen allowed seven goals on 40 shots in the first two games.

Numbers to know

Canadiens: 55.6 percent. That is the winning percentage for the Canadiens on face-offs in the postseason. It is the best among the remaining eight teams. Buffalo is at 43.8 percent, second-worst among the remaining teams. The battle at the dots could be huge in what should be a series with razor-thin margins. Starting with the puck more often could make all the difference. The big three for the Canadiens are Jake Evans, who has won 56-of 89 (62.9 percent), Phillip Danault who is 51 of 87 (58.6 percent) and Suzuki, who was 71-of-126 (56.3 percent). Buffalo does not have a regular face-off taker at more than 48.2 percent.

Sabres: 4.2 percent. While it's clear that the Sabres' power play got vastly better during the course of the series against the Bruins, they scored just one goal in 24 attempts (though they also scored a goal two seconds after a power-play ended in Game 4). The goal they scored, in Game 5, ended a 0-for-39 skid going back to April 2. The power-play percentage is the lowest among all playoff teams in the first round, including those eliminated. As coach Lindy Ruff said, "I look at it right now that everybody's power play going into Round 2 is just wipe it clean and start again. I look at the series like we actually scored two goals. You know the numbers with one goal make it look bad. But I think there's some bad numbers on good teams. We're going to continue like we did today, we're going to continue to work at it."

They said it

"We like playing on the road. I think we've been a good road team all year. So we're not afraid to be in the road and comfortable." -- Alex Newhook on starting on the road against the higher-seeded Sabres

"I think the biggest thing is he's just on the puck all the time. He's like that insect that won't go away. You keep swatting at it, but you just can't quite get it, and it keeps landing on you. Benny is on the puck as good as anybody on this team. I think him and (Josh Doan) are two of the best. I think sometimes that can be really irritating to an opponent, and the fact that he is the first guy to get to the net front. And I think that along irritates a lot of the opposition." – Ruff on Zach Benson

Will win if …

Canadiens: Maintain their swagger. The Canadiens were in it tough against a battle-tested Lightning team that was brimming with big-game experience. Their core had won the Stanley Cup twice and played in the Cup Final three straight times. Montreal's core? Six games of playoff experience. No matter. Coach Marty St. Louis had the Canadiens believing from Game 1 and they responded with care-free, skilled hockey. When the big guns weren't going, depth players stepped up. When the offense stagnated, the defense stood tall. When it all fell apart, like it did in the second period of Game 7, Dobes refused to wilt, in the end outdueling the most accomplished goalie in the tournament in Andrei Vasilevskiy. These Canadiens, like their coach, have no fear. It must stay that way against a Sabres team playing the destiny card.  

Sabres: They continue their play on the road. Against the Bruins, who finished the regular season tied with the Carolina Hurricanes for the most wins at home with 29, the Sabres looked like world-beaters at TD Garden. They won three games on the road, including clinching their spot in the second round in Game 6. There's no question that their raucous crowds give them a bump in Buffalo, but the way they were able to simplify their game and play their way even on the road bodes well as the games get tougher.

How they look

Canadiens projected lineup

Cole Caufield -- Nick Suzuki -- Josh Anderson

Juraj Slafkovsky -- Jake Evans -- Ivan Demidov

Alexandre Texier -- Kirby Dach -- Zachary Bolduc

Alex Newhook -- Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher

Mike Matheson -- Noah Dobson

Kaiden Guhle -- Jayden Struble

Alex Carrier -- Lane Hutson

Jakub Dobes

Jacob Fowler

Scratched: Oliver Kapanen, Joe Veleno, Adam Engstrom

Injured: Patrik Laine (lower body)

Sabres projected lineup

Peyton Krebs – Tage Thompson – Alex Tuch 

Jason Zucker – Ryan McLeod – Jack Quinn 

Zach Benson – Josh Norris – Josh Doan 

Jordan Greenway – Tyson Kozak – Beck Malenstyn 

Rasmus Dahlin – Mattias Samuelsson 

Owen Power – Bowen Byram 

Logan Stanley – Conor Timmins 

Alex Lyon 

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

Scratched: Luke Schenn, Michael Kesselring, Josh Dunne, Tanner Pearson

Injured: Noah Ostlund (lower body), Sam Carrick (upper body), Jiri Kulich (blood clot), Justin Danforth (lower body)