The Buffalo Sabres kept their season alive Saturday night with an 8-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens in Game 6 at Bell Centre.
Now, the teams are set for a winner-take-all Game 7 on Monday at 7:30 p.m. at KeyBank Center.
Just as the Sabres scored on three of their first four shots in Game 5, Montreal did the same in Game 6, chasing goalie Alex Lyon after just 10 minutes. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen entered in relief and stopped all 17 shots he faced for the win.
Buffalo responded with seven unanswered goals and locked it down defensively, allowing only six shots in the third period to close it out.
The Sabres, in turn, chased Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobes for the first time these playoffs, beating him for six goals on 33 shots before Jacob Fowler entered in relief in the third.
Buffalo’s offensive outburst – eight goals set a playoff high – featured five points from Rasmus Dahlin (1+4) and four from Tage Thompson (1+3), plus multi-point showings from Jack Quinn (2+1, his first career playoff goals), Jason Zucker (1+1) and Zach Benson (1+1).
Konsta Helenius also scored for the second straight game, and Zach Metsa scored in his playoff debut.
The Sabres scored four power-play goals and are now 9-for-24 (37.5%) in the series.
Eight goals set a road playoff record for the Sabres. And Dahlin’s five points tied Derek Roy (2006) and John Tucker (1988) for the single-game franchise record in the playoffs.
