- Oct 16, 2026
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SportsMafia Wire graphic. Team logos and player headshots via ESPN.
The Montreal Canadiens remain ninth in the Eastern Conference after falling to the Buffalo Sabres in a shootout Saturday, allowing the Sabres to hold eighth place.
Montreal led 3-1 on a power play before Buffalo rallied. Jack Quinn cleared the puck deep, Zach Benson beat Jacob Dobson, and Quinn scored ahead of Lane Hutson to force extra time. Buffalo's third goal came when three Canadiens stood between Josh Doan and Tage Thompson but failed to cut off a cross-zone pass that crossed the crease.
Goaltender Jacob Fowler said, "I feel like we played pretty good, kind of like it was awesome."
Coach Martin St-Louis said the team is repeating the same pattern from last season, when Montreal finished with 106 points tied with Tampa Bay but lost the home-ice tiebreaker on regulation wins, 40 to 34. St-Louis compared balancing killer instinct with patience to boxing, noting there is no magic recipe and that it comes from experience. He added that dropping points to division rivals should not happen but is part of growing pains for a roster lacking in years.
Defenseman Arber Xhekaj said he was happy to finally be getting some looks.
Written by the SportsMafia Wire desk in our own words from the original reporting (AI-assisted, checked against the source).