Montreal gets another crack at the series lead on Tuesday night when the Canadiens meet the Buffalo Sabres in Game 5, with the puck set to drop at 7:00 PM EDT and 4:00 PM PDT. The winner will move one win away from the Eastern Conference Final.
Buffalo made another lineup change despite winning Game 4, with Lindy Ruff uniting Luke Schenn and Logan Stanley as a third pairing and taking Conor Timmins out to make it happen. Montreal has been quite happy with its defence at five-on-five in this series, but Martin St-Louis may still choose to make a change on his own third pairing after the loss that cost his team the lead.
The game is being played in the NHL playoffs, and it has the feel of a matchup that could turn on one chance from either side’s top line. Montreal has outscored Peyton Krebs, Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch handily at even strength, but the Canadiens’ own top trio is being outscored at even strength so far. If that continues, Game 5 could come down to which first line lands the first clean strike.
For Montreal, the list of scratches includes Owen Beck, Adam Engström, Brendan Gallagher, Oliver Kapanen, Patrik Laine, Samuel Montembeault, David Reinbacher, Jayden Struble and Florian Xhekaj. Sam Carrick, Justin Danforth, Jiri Kulich and Noah Ostlund are injured. Buffalo’s scratches are Josh Dunne, Colten Ellis, Michael Kesselring, Tyson Kozak, Zach Metsa, Tanner Pearson and Conor Timmins.
Viewers in Canada can watch on CBC, Sportsnet in English and TVA Sports in French, while the game is on in the United States. Streaming is available on Sportsnet+. Montreal is trying to recover the series lead it lost in Game 4, and Buffalo is trying to keep the pressure where it is after a win that did not stop Ruff from rewriting his defence again.
