{"id":48942,"date":"2026-05-17T12:43:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T12:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/48942\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T12:43:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T12:43:12","slug":"canadiens-resolve-facing-ultimate-test-after-disastrous-game-6-against-sabres","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/48942\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadiens’ resolve facing ultimate test after disastrous Game 6 against Sabres"},"content":{"rendered":"

MONTREAL \u2014 This felt ominous for the Montreal Canadiens<\/a> as soon as Juraj Slafkovsky lost his balance and went crashing into the boards in the neutral zone in the 18th\u00a0second of play.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It felt disastrous for them by the time they were pulling a fourth unanswered goal out of Jakub Dobes<\/a>\u2019 net with 7:01 to go in the second period.<\/p>\n

Everything that happened in between Rasmus Dahlin\u2019s game-opening goal \u2014 which came 14 seconds after Slafkovsky took a header at the red line \u2014 and Konsta Helenius\u2019 backbreaking one to make it 5-3 Buffalo Sabres<\/a> will either fuel nightmares or resolve for the Canadiens, and we won\u2019t find out what the true effect was until Monday\u2019s Game 7 is well underway.<\/p>\n

But the Canadiens blew Game 6.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They had the Sabres pinned to the canvas and allowed them to kick out of the three-count before quickly submitting to a rollover.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t play a good game,\u201d Martin St. Louis said more than three times after the Canadiens erased Dahlin\u2019s opening marker with three goals on four shots to chase goaltender Alex Lyon 10:14 into the first only to lose 8-3 with Dobes watching the final 10:03 from the bench.<\/p>\n

Captain Nick Suzuki<\/a> more candidly referred to it as \u201cprobably the worst\u201d game the Canadiens have played of their 13 in these playoffs and couldn\u2019t quite conjure a logical explanation for it.<\/p>\n

And even if Suzuki could, it wouldn\u2019t have any bearing on what comes next for him and his teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like we\u2019ve been good at bouncing forward,\u201d said St. Louis, \u201cand that\u2019s what we intend to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The coach was asked by The Athletic\u2019s Arpon Basu for the origins of that expression and intimated he coined it himself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI just feel (with the expression) \u2018bounce back,\u2019 you come back to where you were,\u201d St. Louis explained. \u201c(With) \u2018bounce forward,\u2019 you\u2019re actually (going) further than where you were. Physics.\u201d<\/p>\n

When you think of the type of perspective the Canadiens must have to make Monday\u2019s game their 11th straight successful response to a loss, that\u2019s it in a nutshell.<\/p>\n

Playing as well as they had through the first five games might not be enough against a galvanized Sabres team that extended its ninth life on Saturday. And as St. Louis would say, playing even better wouldn\u2019t guarantee anything, either, though it would dramatically raise the Canadiens\u2019 percentages.<\/p>\n

Playing like they did on Saturday would give them no chance at all.<\/p>\n

Slafkovsky\u2019s opening sequence was more than just ominous; it was emblematic of their performance. It only started with that crash into the boards. It was followed by his failed clearing attempt after the Sabres gained the offensive zone and finished by his bite on Dahlin\u2019s fake before the puck went off Alex Carrier\u2019s stick and into the net.<\/p>\n

The Canadiens still got three quick goals from Arber Xhekaj, Ivan Demidov and Jake Evans to seize momentum.<\/p>\n

But Mike Matheson took a four-minute penalty less than two minutes after Lyon gave way to Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, and everything devolved from there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t long we were in control,\u201d said St. Louis.<\/p>\n

But the Canadiens still had a one-goal lead going into the first intermission.<\/p>\n

To see Zach Benson erase it exactly one minute into the second period was to know this wasn\u2019t going to end well for the Canadiens.<\/p>\n

By the time Helenius made it 5-3 Sabres \u2014 just 1:05 after Jack Quinn made it 4-3 on the power play \u2014 it was all but confirmed Buffalo was regaining home-ice advantage.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t help but wonder if they\u2019d give it back if they could.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re 5-1 on the road and 2-4 at KeyBank Center in these playoffs, and now they\u2019re tasked with keeping the Canadiens from getting to 6-2 on the road after falling to 2-4 at Bell Centre.<\/p>\n

The motivation for Montreal goes beyond just survival \u2014 and a chance to play the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t let that be our last game here,\u201d said Suzuki, \u201cso we\u2019ve got to do everything we can to forget about it and be ready for Game 7.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Canadiens did that in Round 1 versus the Tampa Bay Lightning, with the only difference being they played their best in a 1-0 loss in Game 6 before playing nearly as bad as they did on Saturday in Game 7 at Benchmark International Arena.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe definitely expect more from us for this Game 7,\u201d said Lane Hutson<\/a>. \u201cThe way we played in that one probably won\u2019t advance us, but we\u2019re excited to show what we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sabres showed what they could do after a similarly bad performance in Game 5 to the one the Canadiens had on this night.<\/p>\n

Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin, who are Buffalo\u2019s best players, were arguably their worst players this past Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But they bounced forward with nine points between them Saturday.<\/p>\n

Suzuki and Cole Caufield weren\u2019t quite as bad as Slafkovsky was on Saturday, but all three carried the Canadiens this season and will need to be at their best to save it Monday.<\/p>\n

Dobes has followed every bounce backwards with one forward, including in Game 5, when he allowed goals on three of the Sabres first four shots before stopping 31 consecutive shots. Prior to that, he erased four playoff losses with wins, posting a 1.49 goals-against average and a .948 save percentage in those games.<\/p>\n

A new opportunity awaits the Canadiens\u2019 goaltender and his teammates.<\/p>\n

Between now and then, the main goal will be, as Hutson put it, \u201cto flush (Game 6), dig deep and play for each other, and have another chance at playing at home in front of these fans.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MONTREAL \u2014 This felt ominous for the Montreal Canadiens as soon as Juraj Slafkovsky lost his balance and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48943,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[50],"class_list":{"0":"post-48942","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-montreal","8":"tag-montreal"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}