Sabres at Canadiens
Sabres 8, Canadiens 3 · first star Rasmus Dahlin (1 G, 4 A).
2025-26 Stanley Cup Playoffs · Preseason. The 2026-27 regular season starts Sep 29. Data as of September 28, 2026, source NHL.
Buffalo Sabres 8 at Montreal Canadiens 3
Shot chart
Every shot attempt, computed from the league's play-by-play coordinates. Sabres attack left, Canadiens attack right, all periods folded onto one rink. Attempts are plotted where the league recorded them, so the 5 marks in a team's own end are attempts logged from there: empty-net shots, long dumps on the net; 1 empty-net goal is drawn as a diamond. Boxscore shots on goal: BUF 36, MTL 22.
Shots by period
| Period | BUF SOG | BUF G | MTL SOG | MTL G |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 11 | 2 | 5 | 3 |
| 2nd | 17 | 3 | 10 | 0 |
| 3rd | 8 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
| Total | 36 | 8 | 22 | 3 |
Shots by situation
| Situation | BUF SOG | BUF G | MTL SOG | MTL G |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Even strength | 24 | 4 | 17 | 1 |
| Power play | 10 | 4 | 4 | 1 |
| Short-handed | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Into an empty net | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Attempt share by period
Sabres took 53.5% of the shot attempts, and 56.8% of the 74 attempts taken at 5-on-5. An attempt is a goal, a shot on goal, a miss or a blocked shot; CF% is the share of them belonging to the Canadiens and FF% their share of the ones that were not blocked, so the Sabres hold the remainder. All situations unless the 5-on-5 figure is named. All 32 teams
| Period | MTL CF% | MTL FF% |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 34.3 | 25.9 |
| 2nd | 46.9 | 42.9 |
| 3rd | 60.0 | 56.5 |
| Game | 46.5 | 41.2 |
Team totals only: per-player on-ice numbers need shift data, which this source does not publish.
Scoring summary
1st period
- 00:32
Rasmus Dahlin (3) Mattias Samuelsson (3), Zach Benson (4) · backhand 1–0 - 01:40
Arber Xhekaj (1) Jake Evans (6) · snap 1–1 - 08:12 Ivan Demidov (2) PP Lane Hutson (11), Cole Caufield (5) · slap 1–2
- 10:14 Jake Evans (2) SH Mike Matheson (2) · snap 1–3
- 13:56 Jason Zucker (2) PP Josh Norris (2), Jack Quinn (5) · snap 2–3
2nd period
- 01:00 Zach Benson (5) Tage Thompson (8), Bowen Byram (3) · backhand 3–3
- 10:54 Jack Quinn (1) PP Rasmus Dahlin (7), Tage Thompson (9) · slap 4–3
- 12:59 Konsta Helenius (2) Jason Zucker (2), Rasmus Dahlin (8) · snap 5–3
3rd period
- 09:58 Jack Quinn (2) PP Tage Thompson (10), Rasmus Dahlin (9) · slap 6–3
- 14:12 Tage Thompson (5) EN Unassisted · snap 7–3
- 17:49 Zach Metsa (1) PP Ryan McLeod (3), Rasmus Dahlin (10) · snap 8–3
Three stars
-
Rasmus Dahlin BUF · D #26 · 1 G, 4 A -
Jack Quinn BUF · R #22 · 2 G, 1 A -
Tage Thompson BUF · C #72 · 1 G, 3 A
Penalties
| Time | Team | Player | Infraction | Min |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 07:43 | BUF | Peyton Krebs | roughing | 2 |
| 08:30 | MTL | Phillip Danault | hooking | 2 |
| 09:50 | MTL | Jakub Dobes | slashing | 2 |
| 09:50 | BUF | Rasmus Dahlin | unsportsmanlike conduct | 2 |
| 11:47 | MTL | Mike Matheson | high sticking double minor | 4 |
| 17:17 | BUF | Josh Norris | tripping | 2 |
| 17:17 | MTL | Lane Hutson | embellishment | 2 |
| 07:08 | BUF | Bench | too many men on the ice | 2 |
| 10:10 | MTL | Alexandre Carrier | interference | 2 |
| 15:55 | BUF | Alex Tuch | hooking | 2 |
| 09:12 | MTL | Josh Anderson | slashing | 2 |
| 17:16 | MTL | Arber Xhekaj | interference | 2 |
| 17:16 | MTL | Arber Xhekaj | misconduct (misconduct) | 10 |
| 17:20 | MTL | Jake Evans | roughing | 2 |
| 17:20 | BUF | Josh Norris | slashing | 2 |
| 17:20 | BUF | Zach Benson | misconduct (misconduct) | 10 |
| 17:20 | MTL | Alexandre Carrier | misconduct (misconduct) | 10 |
| 17:20 | MTL | Jake Evans | misconduct (misconduct) | 10 |
| 17:52 | MTL | Kirby Dach | misconduct (misconduct) | 10 |
| 17:52 | BUF | Peyton Krebs | misconduct (misconduct) | 10 |
Boxscore
Buffalo Sabres
| Player | G | A | PTS | SOG | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rasmus Dahlin #26 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 19:56 |
| Tage Thompson #72 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 18:14 |
| Jack Quinn #22 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 18:18 |
 Jason Zucker #17 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 13:29 |
 Zach Benson #6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 20:04 |
 Konsta Helenius #94 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 12:36 |
 Zach Metsa #73 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 12:19 |
 Josh Norris #9 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 15:27 |
 Ryan McLeod #71 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 21:56 |
 Bowen Byram #4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 19:53 |
 Mattias Samuelsson #23 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 22:53 |
 Peyton Krebs #19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 06:25 |
 Beck Malenstyn #29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 08:22 |
 Jordan Greenway #12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 08:15 |
 Alex Tuch #89 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 19:10 |
 Josh Doan #91 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 16:31 |
 Conor Timmins #21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17:26 |
 Owen Power #25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22:22 |
| Goalie | DEC | SA | GA | SV% | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Alex Lyon #34 | — | 4 | 3 | .250 | 10:14 |
 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen #1 | W | 18 | 0 | 1.000 | 49:41 |
Montreal Canadiens
| Player | G | A | PTS | SOG | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jake Evans #71 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 16:13 |
 Ivan Demidov #93 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 17:14 |
 Arber Xhekaj #72 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 07:12 |
 Cole Caufield #13 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 16:01 |
 Lane Hutson #48 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 24:28 |
 Mike Matheson #8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 22:05 |
 Alex Newhook #15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 16:32 |
 Joe Veleno #90 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 09:59 |
 Kirby Dach #77 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 11:24 |
 Nick Suzuki #14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 19:20 |
 Phillip Danault #24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12:06 |
 Alexandre Texier #85 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13:04 |
 Juraj Slafkovský #20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 17:46 |
 Josh Anderson #17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 14:03 |
 Zachary Bolduc #76 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13:39 |
 Alexandre Carrier #45 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17:32 |
 Kaiden Guhle #21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19:27 |
 Noah Dobson #53 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 25:22 |
| Goalie | DEC | SA | GA | SV% | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jakub Dobes #75 | L | 33 | 6 | .818 | 49:58 |
 Jacob Fowler #32 | — | 2 | 1 | .500 | 08:23 |
SOG shots on goal · BLK blocked shots · FO% faceoff win percentage · EV / PP saves over shots by strength. Skaters sorted by points, then goals.
Source NHL (boxscore, play-by-play, game summary). Shot locations are the league's tracked coordinates; the chart and the situation tables are computed by Play-Pause Hockey. Data as of 2026-09-28.