The Buffalo Sabres outshot the Montreal Canadiens 39 to 25 in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals on Monday night at KeyBank Center and lost 3-2 in overtime when Alex Newhook scored to end the series, end the Sabres’ season and send the fourth-seeded Canadiens to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in years.
Buffalo fired 39 shots at Jakub Dobes. The Canadiens goalie stopped 37 of them. The Sabres shot 5.1 percent.
For a team that won Game 6 by a score of 8-3 and came home for a decisive seventh game with all the momentum Buffalo hockey has been building toward, it is the kind of statistical paradox that makes hockey the sport it is and devastates a fanbase at the worst possible moment.
The Canadiens advance to face the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Finals beginning Thursday May 21.
How Game 7 Unfolded
Montreal drew first blood in the first period, scoring the only goal of an opening frame that set the tone for what would be a grinding, close contest between two teams that had traded momentum all series.
Buffalo, playing at home in front of a loud and desperate crowd that understood the stakes, responded in the second period with a goal of its own. Jordan Greenway provided it, Greenway, who has been one of the steadier contributors in Buffalo’s playoff run, giving the home team the lift it needed to pull level heading into the second intermission.
The third period went Buffalo’s way in terms of goals as well. Beck Malenstyn picking up an assist on a goal that put the Sabres in front for what felt, briefly, like it might be the winning margin.
Buffalo 2, Montreal 1. Home team ahead. Final 20 minutes of the season standing between the Sabres and the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in over a decade.
The Canadiens would not let it end that way. Montreal scored to tie the game and force overtime, a single goal in regulation that made everything Buffalo had done in the second and third periods feel suddenly fragile.
The Overtime And The Shot That Ended It
Alex Newhook ended it in overtime. The Canadiens forward put the puck in the net on one of only three Montreal overtime shots while Buffalo fired six attempts at Dobes in the extra frame.
The winning goal came with the efficiency that defines how this Canadiens team has been winning throughout this playoff run, they do not need to outscore you on the scoresheet to out-execute you at the critical moment.
Newhook earned the first star of the game. Dobes earned the second.
The Sabres finished with 39 shots to Montreal’s 25. They won the faceoff battle 53.6 percent.
They were the better team by most conventional metrics on the night and ended up on the wrong side of a 3-2 final that did not reflect how much they threw at the Canadiens goalie across 60-plus minutes of playoff hockey.
The Series Buffalo Let Slip Away
Buffalo came into this series as the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, having earned that seeding by being one of the better regular-season teams in the conference and by eliminating the Boston Bruins in the first round.
The Sabres had come in with genuine expectations and a fanbase that has been waiting longer than almost any other in the NHL for the franchise to matter again in May.
They won Game 1 in Buffalo. They lost Game 2 badly. They got demolished in Game 3 in Montreal, losing 6-2.
They won Game 4 back in Buffalo to even the series at 2-2. Then they lost Game 5 in Montreal 6-3.
Then they won Game 6 at home 8-3 in the kind of blowout that feels like a statement. Then they lost Game 7 at home in overtime.
That is the specific shape of an elimination loss that will stay with a fanbase for years, a Game 6 that was so convincing it genuinely felt like a turning point, followed by a Game 7 that was genuinely competitive until it was not, ended by a goal that nobody in Buffalo was ready for.
What Montreal Just Did And Where It Heads
The Montreal Canadiens are a fourth seed that has now eliminated a second seed in seven games. They beat Tampa Bay in four games in Round 1. They beat Buffalo in seven.
They are heading to the Eastern Conference Finals against the Carolina Hurricanes, the No. 1 seed, who swept the Philadelphia Flyers in four games and have been the most dominant team in the Eastern Conference playoffs so far.
Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals is scheduled for Thursday May 21 in Raleigh. Carolina enters as a 63.5 percent favorite according to win probability models.
Montreal has been counted out at every stage of this playoff run and keeps advancing.
The Canadiens have done it without dominating in traditional metrics. In Game 7, they outscored Buffalo 3-2 while being outshot 39-25.
Their goalie was the best player on the ice when it mattered most and their overtime hero buried the one shot it took to end it.
For Buffalo, the season is over. For Montreal, the Eastern Conference Finals are three days away.
