Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 25: Golden Knights prevail in OT, Sabres bounce back against Canadiens

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are back, which means that for the next two months, we’ll get non-stop action as we witness 16 teams get whittled down to the one that will be crowned as the 2026 Stanley Cup champions. Here at Daily Faceoff, we’ll be keeping you in the loop on everything that happens in the playoffs, every day until the Stanley Cup is hoisted in June.

Tuesday night saw a doubleheader on opposite ends of the continent, with division rivals competing in a couple of crucial games, as teams took one step closer to their respective conference finals.

Sabres even things up with strange win

The fourth game of the Atlantic Division Final was a pivotal game, as the Montreal Canadiens looked to move within a win of the Eastern Conference Final. However, the Buffalo Sabres took advantage of a couple of lucky bounces, picking up a 3-2 win, evening the series at two.

The first period of the contest saw plenty of action, along with a little bit of controversy. Minutes into the game, Sabres forward Jack Quinn took a shot that was gloved by Jakub Dobes. However, after a video review, it was determined that the puck completely crossed the goal line.

However, the Canadiens challenged the call for goaltender interference and were successful. Yet, not long after that, Mattias Samuelsson got the Sabres on the board with his third of the playoffs.

Montreal wasted little time getting back into the game. Great work from Jake Evans led to Alex Newhook scoring his fifth goal in three games, leveling the score at one.

A few minutes later, Tage Thompson took a rather careless cross-checking penalty to put Montreal on the power play. That resulted in Cole Caufiled sneaking a shot through Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen for his third of the postseason, giving Montreal its first lead of the game.

The game took a weird turn in the middle frame. Buffalo was awarded a four-minute power play and converted, but not in the way you’d expect. Thompson went to dump the puck in the Montreal zone, but it took a weird bounce off the corner and ricocheted toward the goal, and Dobes failed to react accordingly, tying the game at two seven minutes into the frame.

That set up a very tense third period. The Sabres went ahead for the second time in the game as Zach Benson, for some reason, was left alone in front of the net by Michael Matheson, leading to the Sabres forward scoring his fourth goal of the playoffs, on the power play, less than five minutes into the period.

Montreal had numerous chances to distance itself from Buffalo, as the team had seven power plays in the game, but only converted once. The Sabres went 2-for-4 on the man advantage.

The Canadiens ended up outshooting the Sabres 30-22, but Luukkonen, making his first start since Game 2 of the first round, was solid, making 28 saves in the victory. Dobes was credited with just 19 stops in the loss.

The series has a whole new feel heading back to Buffalo, as the Sabres can use the home fans to inspire in an important game.

Dorofeyev’s heroics pushes Ducks to the brink

The nightcap saw another exciting matchup in the Pacific Division Final between the Vegas Golden Knights and Anaheim Ducks. Game 5 needed overtime to decide a winner, with Pavel Dorofeyev stepping up, giving the Golden Knights a 3-2 victory.

There was no shortage of chances in this game, as the Ducks and Golden Knights went blow-for-blow from the opening puck drop. A huge moment in the game came just before the halfway mark of the opening frame, when Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb laid a hard hit on an unsuspecting Ryan Poehling.

A dazed Poehling had to be helped off the ice, while McNabb was given a five-minute major penalty for interference and a game misconduct.

Anaheim didn’t waste its opportunity. A few minutes into the man advantage, Beckett Sennecke potted his third goal in as many games, on the man advantage, to put the visitors out in front.

However, the ever-dangerous Vegas power play equaled things up just a few minutes later. Dorofeyev made a great play to steal the puck in the offensive zone. The Russian got free in the slot and beat Lukas Dostal to tie the game at one.

The action didn’t relent in the middle stanza, but both Dostal and Carter Hart came up with some terrific stops. The Ducks outshot the Golden Knights 17-6 in the frame, but the game remained tied heading into the third.

Neither team held back in the final period of regulation, with Vegas putting themselves on a path to victory with a goal from Tomas Hertl early in the frame. Yet, the pesky Ducks didn’t relent, and with just a few minutes left, Olen Zellweger’s first playoff goal tied the game, sending the contest to extra time.

Even while Anaheim might’ve taken some of the momentum back late in regulation, the house always wins. A great setup from Jack Eichel led to Dorofeyev knocking home his second of the game, pushing the Golden Knights within a win of their first Western Conference Final berth since 2023, the year the team won its first Stanley Cup.

Eichel, Hertl and Dorofeyev all had multiple points for Vegas, while Cutter Gauthier and Mason McTavish had a pair of assists each for Anaheim. Hart was exceptional, as the Golden Knights netminder posted 33 saves for his seventh victory of the postseason. Dostal turned away 29 shots in the loss.