At the Horn | Canadiens 6 - Sabres 3

The Buffalo Sabres were unable to hold onto a trio of early leads and dropped Game 5 of their second-round playoff series with the Montreal Canadiens 6-3 at KeyBank Center on Thursday.

The Canadiens lead the series 3-2. The two teams return to Montreal for Game 6 on Saturday, when the Sabres will face elimination for the first time in these playoffs.

Buffalo held leads of 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 over the first 30 minutes. Montreal responded with the tying goal each time and pulled away with three consecutive goals scored by Josh Anderson, Jake Evans and Nick Suzuki during a 10-minute span in the second period.

Jason Zucker, Josh Doan and Konsta Helenius scored goals for the Sabres. Doan’s goal extended his point streak to six games.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen started for the second straight game and stopped 18 of 23 shots in two periods of play. Alex Lyon played the third period and made one save on three shots.

Jakub Dobes made 32 saves for Montreal, including a breakaway stop on Tage Thompson when the Sabres were leading 3-2 early in the second period.

Suzuki (1+2) and Juraj Slafkovsky (0+3) led the way for the Canadiens with three points each. The Canadiens’ power play went 2-for-2 after scoring on just one of seven opportunities in Game 4.

Statistics

Scoring summary

MTL 0 – BUF 1 | Period 1, 2:00 – Jason Zucker (1) from Jack Quinn (4) and Conor Timmins (2)

MTL 1 – BUF 1 | Period 1, 6:31 – Cole Caufield (4) from Nick Suzuki (7) and Juraj Slafkovsky (3)

MTL 1 – BUF 2 | Period 1, 7:43 – Josh Doan (3) from Owen Power (5)

MTL 2 – BUF 2 | Period 1, 7:54 – Alexandre Texier (3) from Alexandre Carrier (3) and Phillip Danault (4)

MTL 2 – BUF 3 | Period 1, 10:15 – Konsta Helenius (1) from Mattias Samuelsson (2) and Rasmus Dahlin (6)

MTL 3 – BUF 3 | Period 2, 8:01 – Josh Anderson (3) from Lane Hutson (9) and Phillip Danault (5)

MTL 4 – BUF 3 | Period 2, 16:15 – Jake Evans (1) from Ivan Demidov (5) and Alex Newhook (2)

MTL 5 – BUF 3 | Period 2, 17:33 (PP) – Nick Suzuki (4) from Juraj Slafkovsky (4) and Lane Hutson (10)

MTL 6 - BUF 3 | Period 3, 3:32 (PP) – Ivan Demidov (1) from Juraj Slafkovsky (5) and Nick Suzuki (8)

Postgame sound

Photo galleries

Up next

The series returns to Montreal for Game 6 on Saturday at 8 p.m. The game will be broadcast nationally on ABC. Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray will have the radio call on WGR 550.