{"id":908684,"date":"2026-05-27T14:14:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T19:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/27\/mtlbuf-what-you-need-to-know-game-5-montreal-canadiens\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T14:14:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T19:14:35","slug":"mtlbuf-what-you-need-to-know-game-5-montreal-canadiens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/27\/mtlbuf-what-you-need-to-know-game-5-montreal-canadiens\/","title":{"rendered":"MTL@BUF: What you need to know | Game 5 | Montr\u00e9al Canadiens"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

KEYS TO THE GAME<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Starting the game on the right foot<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Following Tuesday\u2019s Game 4 loss to the Sabres, head coach Martin St-Louis said he liked the way his team played… aside from their start. With Buffalo tying the series 2-2 and the momentum swinging in their favor, Montreal will want to set the tone early tonight.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Capitalizing on special teams<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although Cole Caufield scored once on the man advantage and the Canadiens generated many chances, the Habs will need to convert more of those attempts into goals on the power play.\u00a0Meanwhile, the Sabres were more opportunistic with two of their three goals coming on the power play in Game 4. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Time to adjust<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Sabres needed to adjust their game plan to even the series… and it worked. Expect Lindy Ruff\u2019s contingent to keep playing a tighter brand of hockey, and for the Canadiens to adjust accordingly as they\u2019ve done throughout the regular season and playoffs thus far.\u00a0<\/p>\n

HEAD-TO-HEAD<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Regular season<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Oct. 20 vs. BUF: 4-2 MTL<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jan. 15 @ BUF: 5-3 BUF<\/strong> \u00a0<\/p>\n

Jan. 22 vs. BUF: 4-2 BUF<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jan. 31 @ BUF: 4-2 MTL<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Playoffs<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Game 1 | May 6 @ BUF: 4-2 BUF<\/strong> \u00a0<\/p>\n

Game 2 | May 8 @ BUF: 5-1 MTL<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Game 3 | May 10 vs. BUF: 6-2 MTL<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Game 4 | May 12 vs. BUF: 3-2 BUF<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

PLAYERS TO WATCH FOR<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Forward Alex Newhook has been on an absolute tear since Game 7 against the Tampa Bay Lightning. In his last five playoff outings, the native of St-John’s, NL, has registered six goals and as many points.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the Sabres, forward Zach Benson continues to be a pain for the Canadiens after scoring the go-ahead goal on his birthday Tuesday. The product of Chilliwack, BC, has recorded points (2G, 2A) in three of four games against Montreal\u00a0this series.\u00a0<\/p>\n

BY THE NUMBERS: HABS-SABRES<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how both teams match up:<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Zonia Mischke
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KEYS TO THE GAME\u00a0 Starting the game on the right foot\u00a0 Following Tuesday\u2019s Game 4 loss to the Sabres, head coach Martin St-Louis said he liked the way his team played… aside from their start. With Buffalo tying the series 2-2 and the momentum swinging in their favor, Montreal will want to set the tone<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":908685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25563,31276],"tags":[42831,52269],"class_list":["post-908684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canadiens","category-montreal","tag-canadiens","tag-montreal"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=908684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/908685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=908684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=908684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=908684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}