\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n \t\tHome<\/a>NHL<\/a>NHL Playoff Preview: Montreal Canadiens at Buffalo Sabres with Line Combinations 05\/18\/2026<\/p>\n Christinne Muschi\/The Canadian Press via AP<\/p>\n Montreal Canadiens (7-4-2) at Buffalo Sabres (7-4-1) <\/p>\n Venue: Bell Centre Purchase tickets via Ticketmaster<\/a><\/p>\n Montreal Canadiens News & Notes:<\/p>\n The Canadiens took a 3-1 lead in Saturday\u2019s game but ultimately lost the game and now they\u2019ll play another game seven. They\u2019re averaging 3.1 goals per game while allowing 2.8 goals per game. In the series, they\u2019re averaging four goals per game.<\/p>\n Buffalo Sabres News & Notes<\/p>\n The Sabres forced a game seven after they scored seven unanswered goal in Saturday\u2019s 8-3 win. They\u2019re averaging 3.4 goals per game while allowing three goals per game in the playoffs. They\u2019re averaging 3.5 goals per game in the series.<\/p>\n Montreal Canadiens Projected Lines<\/p>\n Caufield-Suzuki-Slafkovsky Matheson-Carrier Dobes Get your Montreal Hockey Merchandise Here<\/a><\/p>\n Buffalo Sabres Projected Lines:<\/p>\n Benson-Norris-Thompson Samuelsson-Dahlin Luukkonen Buy Buffalo Hockey Merchandise Below! Players To Watch:<\/p>\n Montreal Canadiens<\/p>\n Jake Evans had a goal and an assist in Saturday\u2019s game; he has a goal in back-to-back games. Evans has a point in five straight games, he has seven points in the series on two goals and five assists. In the playoffs he has eight points on two goals and six assists.<\/p>\n Buffalo Sabres<\/p>\n Tage Thompson had a goal and three assists in Saturday\u2019s win. He has eight points in the series on three goals and five assists. He has 15 points in the playoffs on five goals and ten assists. <\/p>\n Injury Report:<\/p>\n Montreal Canadiens<\/p>\n F Patrik Laine \u2013 IR<\/p>\n Buffalo Sabres<\/p>\n F\u00a0Justin Danforth<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 IR Next Game:<\/p>\n \tDiscover more from Inside The Rink<\/p>\n Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.<\/p>\n Toronto Maple Leafs Should Trade Morgan Rielly<\/a><\/p>\n The Toronto Maple Leafs are in an offseason of change. So far, the team has added John Chayka as the new general manager and Mats Sundin as a Senior Advisor (VP of Hockey Operations). Head coach Craig Berube is no longer with the team. The search for his replacement has begun. There is no telling [\u2026]<\/p>\n Kris Knoblauch Era Ends in Edmonton<\/a><\/p>\n On Thursday morning, it was announced that the Edmonton Oilers relieved Kris Knoblauch of his head coaching duties. Normally, whenever this franchise fires a coach, it can be a bit of an eye roll because it\u2019s happened so frequently since the Decade of Darkness. Starting your NHL coaching career with back-to-back Stanley Cup Final appearances [\u2026]<\/p>\n \t\t\t\u00a9 2021-2025 Inside The Rink\u00ae<\/p>\n![\"Inside](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Clean-Logo-1.png\"){kind=logo}
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Date: Monday, May 18
Time: 7:30 pm EST
How To Watch:\u00a0ESPN<\/p>\n
Newhook-Evans-Demidov
Texier-Danault-Anderson
Bolduc-Veleno-Dach<\/p>\n
Hutson-Dobson
Xhekaj-Guhle<\/p>\n
Fowler<\/p>\n
Doan-McLeod-Tuch
Zucker-Helenius-Quinn
Greenway-Krebs-Malenstyn<\/p>\n
Byram-Power
Metsa-Timmins<\/p>\n
Lyon<\/p>\n
Buffalo Hockey \u2013 Inside The Rink<\/a><\/p>\n
F Jiri Kulich \u2013 IR
G Colten Ellis \u2013 DTD
C Noah Ostlund \u2013 Out<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779110793_282_276326315b493f582c4d87a8721917f57a6f9df6b8a3bc8ca3c490d0be2e9c6e.png\")
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\n ![\"Morgan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Morgan-Rielly-300x150.png\")
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\n ![\"Kris](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779110794_184_Kris-Knoblauch-300x150.png\")
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