The Montreal Canadiens are moving on to the next round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs after an impressive series win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. They are now set to play a Buffalo Sabres team that has really shocked the NHL with their improvements this season.
This series has a chance to look very different than the one the Canadiens just played, as it could be a little more open, high-scoring compared to the grinding type style that the Lightning like to play. While the Canadiens received some great performances from key players, there were a few who struggled, and the team will need to improve in the upcoming series against the Sabres.
Cole Caufield
Entering the Stanley Cup Playoffs, it would be hard to imagine that the Canadiens would be able to get past the Lightning with Caufield having only one goal, which was a power play goal, the entire series. The Canadiens' star forward had an incredible regular season and was one goal behind Nathan MacKinnon for the NHL lead in the category after scoring 51 goals.
It felt as the series went along that Caufield was feeling the pressure of not scoring, similar to the pressure he felt when he was stuck on 49 goals during the regular season. It really is only going to take that one 5v5 goal to get past that pressure and Caufield will return to being the dynamic scorer that he is.
The biggest thing for Caufield in this series is to start getting more shots on goal, as he had only one game in the seven-game series with the Lightning where he had more than two shots on goal. If the Canadiens can get him in spots to get quality shots, the goals should follow.
Juraj Slafkovsky
When looking at Juraj Slafkovsky's stats for the entire series, they look pretty good with three goals against the Lightning. However, all three goals were power play goals, and all three came in Game 1 of the series against Tampa.
Those goals were crucial as they were the deciding factor in the opening game and why the Canadiens won. The challenge is that Slafkovsky was unable to make much of an impact after that game and seemed to be a different player even more after taking a huge hit in Game 4.
WHAT A HIT BY CROZIER ON SLAFKOVSKY OH MY 😱💥 pic.twitter.com/Pe02g9lWDo
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 27, 2026
It will be interesting to see how Martin St. Louis approaches this series and where Slafkovsky lines up. To begin the series against the Lightning, Slafkovsky was on the top line with Nick Suzuki and Caufield before being moved down to play on a line with Ivan Demidov.
At times this season, Slafkovsky has shown he can be a difference maker for the Canadiens, and if he can bounce back to play at that level, the Canadiens have to like their chances of advancing.
Alexandre Carrier
The Buffalo Sabres are a much more dynamic offensive team than the Tampa Bay Lightning, and they do a great job of cycling their defensemen into the offensive zone to make plays. The Canadiens' blueline is going to be under a lot of pressure in this series to not only stop that initial rush but clearing the puck quickly in hopes of creating odd-man rushes the other way.
For the Canadiens, the return of Noah Dobson is a huge boost for them, and he certainly strengthens this group. However, they are going to need more from players like Alexandre Carrier if they want to slow down this Sabres' offense.
Carrier has had an up-and-down season, but struggled more in this series against the Lightning. In Game 7 in particular, Carrier played alongside Mike Matheson and was on the ice for 14 scoring chances for the Lightning, which was the second most of any defenseman for the Canadiens.
The pressure will certainly be on this group to deliver, and they are going to need players past Dobson and Lane Hutson to make plays in this series against the Sabres.
Add us as a preferred source on Google