\u2014 Stu Cowan (@StuCowan1) May 15, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff complained after that game the Canadiens were falling to the ice too easily to draw penalties. On Wednesday, St. Louis asked if Ruff was also talking about his own players.<\/p>\n On Thursday morning, when asked again about Ruff\u2019s comments, St. Louis told reporters in Buffalo: \u201cI feel like if I\u2019m relying on the refs for me to win the series, I\u2019m spending my energy in the wrong place.\u201d<\/p>\n Great answer.<\/p>\n Referees Chris Rooney and Graham Skilliter decided to put their whistles in their pockets to start Game 5, letting the players play without a single penalty called in the first period. That\u2019s a good way to get rid of any embellishing and it also made for an entertaining period with five goals and the Sabres taking a 3-2 lead.<\/p>\n The Canadiens\u2019 Juraj Slafkovsky took the first penalty of the game for high-sticking Josh Doan 12:51 into the second period with the score tied 3-3 after Anderson scored his third goal of the playoffs, but the Sabres failed to score on the ensuing power play. <\/p>\n Evans scored his first goal of the playoffs at 16:15 of the second period to give the Canadiens their first lead of the game. After the Sabres took several dumb penalties in Game 4, Tage Thompson took another one for cross-checking Evans in the face 17:23 into the second period of Game 5 and the Canadiens made them pay with Suzuki scoring 10 seconds later to make the score 5-3.<\/p>\n The Sabres\u2019 Rasmus Dahlin was penalized 2:09 into the third period for cross-checking Demidov as he drove to the net and the Russian rookie scored on the ensuing power play.<\/p>\n The Canadiens finished the game 2-for-2 on the power play, while the Sabres were 0-for-2.<\/p>\n Ruff will have to find something other than the referees and Canadiens players falling to the ice to complain about ahead of Game 6.<\/p>\n Dobes and the Canadiens now have a 5-0 record in the playoffs after a loss and the rookie goalie improved his playoff record to 7-5 with a 2.28 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage.<\/p>\n It was Ruff who ended up pulling his goalie, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, after he gave up five goals on 23 shots in the first two periods. Alex Lyon allowed one goal on three shots in the third period.<\/p>\n St. Louis also spoke Thursday morning about how much he enjoyed the environment of coaching in the playoffs.<\/p>\n \t\tEditor\u2019s Picks\t<\/p>\n \u201cYou feel you\u2019re on the battlefield and you\u2019re trying to win this battle against this team and it takes four wins,\u201d he told reporters in Buffalo. \u201cYou get knocked down and the process of getting back up. To me, it\u2019s like a boxing match almost where the round\u2019s over, you talk about it. You might have won the round, lost the round. You kind of make subtle adjustments, you get back and you show some courage.\u201d<\/p>\n The Canadiens \u2014 and Dobes \u2014 showed a lot of courage in Game 5. So did St. Louis by sticking with his rookie goalie.<\/p>\n \u201cTo me, just being inside that battlefield \u2026 I know I\u2019m not on the ice, but you\u2019re in there with them,\u201d St. Louis said. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty fun.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Hockey](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/051526-buf-spts-sabres-p300_303138041.jpg\")
Buffalo Sabres\u2019 Beck Malenstyn (29) looks away as the Canadiens celebrate a goal by Ivan Demidov (93) during the third period on Thursday night. Harry Scull Jr. \/ Buffalo News<\/p>\n