Flush and forget and bounce forward — that was basically the public offering from coach Martin St. Louis moments after his Montreal Canadiens blew a 3-1 lead on home ice Saturday with an opportunity to eliminate the Buffalo Sabres in six games.
Describing his team’s 8-3 loss as the worst performance of the playoffs, St. Louis said the focus is squarely on tonight’s Game 7 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, not reviewing the “what-ifs” and “should-have, could-have” banter.
Tonight’s winner advances to play the well rested and unbeaten Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference final. Tonight’s loser will get a chance to mull over the miscues and meltdowns of a series featuring numerous momentum changes and unlucky bounces.
Tonight’s showdown will be the 203rd Game 7 in NHL playoffs history, and the second in 2026.
The Canadiens edged the host Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 in Game 7 of their first-round series despite being outshot 29-9, including 12-0 in the second period.
Nine Canadiens made their Game 7 debut against Tampa Bay, including rookie goaltender Jakub Dobeš, who allowed six goals on 33 shots against the Sabres in Game 6 before being replaced by Jacob Fowler.
The Sabres have had their own crease chaos, swapping Alex Lyon and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen several times.
Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki said about tonight’s win-or-go-home game: “We’re a team that is really resilient. We’ve been in this situation already in the first round, so we have experience. We just have to win one game. That’s the only focus right now.”
