It will be remembered as one of the most extraordinary near-comebacks of the modern NHL playoffs. Trailing the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 in the second round and heading home for Game 5 with their season on the line, the Buffalo Sabres ripped off seven consecutive goals to claw level - only to fall in Monday's Game 7 overtime in Montreal.
The seven-goal surge was not just statistical filler. It started with a third-period comeback in Game 5 that Buffalo won 3-2, the Sabres scoring three unanswered to steal the night. It carried into Game 6 on home ice, where Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin combined for five points and Buffalo never trailed, winning 4-1 to send the series back to the Bell Centre. And it continued in the first period of Game 7, where Mattias Samuelsson's deflection off Josh Anderson and a walk-down-the-slot finish from Owen Power tied a game Montreal had led 2-0.
That made it seven goals in a row for Buffalo across three games, against a Canadiens team that had looked in full control of the series 72 hours earlier. The Sabres' depth pieces - Jordan Greenway, Mattias Samuelsson, Jack Quinn - all elevated. Dahlin was magnificent in transition. Thompson, who entered the second round scoreless, finally found his finishing touch.
And yet. Game 7 turned on small margins. A Bowen Byram pass into the slot was deflected wide by inches. A Thompson one-timer hit the post. Goaltender Jakub Dobes turned aside a breakaway from Greenway and a point-blank rebound chance from Quinn within a 90-second sequence late in the second period. Buffalo's late tying goal - Dahlin off a scramble in front - sent the building into delirium and overtime, but Alex Newhook ended the contest within minutes by jamming home a rebound at the back post.
For Sabres coach Lindy Ruff, the post-game press conference carried the strange tone of pride wrapped in heartbreak. His team had been four wins from the Eastern Conference Finals and three from the Stanley Cup Final. After the seven-goal surge, it had been one win from a series victory that would have stood as the largest playoff comeback in the franchise's history.
"The boys laid it out there," Ruff told reporters in a brief Game 7 post-mortem. "We climbed back into something most people thought was finished. We didn't get the bounce. Disappointed, proud, both at the same time."
Buffalo's group skews young. Dahlin (26), Thompson (27), Power (23) and Quinn (24) all return next season under contract. The defensive structure that locked Montreal down for three games will carry into 2026-27 with continuity, even as the Sabres weigh contract negotiations with several key restricted free agents.
For Montreal, the message is also instructive. The Canadiens cannot let a series slip again. The Carolina Hurricanes - waiting for nearly two weeks now - will not need a seven-goal lifeline to punish complacency. Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals is Thursday in Raleigh.
