In Game 4 of the second round of the Eastern Conference playoff series between the Buffalo Sabres and the Montreal Canadiens, a major turn of events happened in the first period at the Bell Centre. The Sabres thought they had taken a 2-0 lead through Jack Quinn after a video review on a close play at the net, but it ultimately wasn’t the case.

Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis immediately challenged the call for goaltender interference following the league’s decision to award the goal to the Sabres on the initial video review. The 10-minute delay across both reviews led to the league overturning the goal and ruling in favor of the home team.

It was welcomed with rousing approval from the thousands of fans in attendance at the Bell Centre.

Notably, when Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes made the initial save off Konsta Helenius, Quinn grabbed the rebound while approaching the net from the right with intensity. Dobes managed to stop the attempt on goal with his glove, but the league took another look on video review to confirm whether the puck was over the goal line.

They determined that the puck was indeed over the goal line when the goalie snagged it, which meant Buffalo had a two-goal advantage.

But when the challenge came from St. Louis for goaltender interference, the league ruled in his team’s favor after determining that Helenius impaired Dobes’ “ability to play his position in the crease prior to Jack Quinn’s goal.” It was stated that Helenius’ stick made contact with Dobes while he was in the blue paint after making his way across the crease from the right.

Buffalo Sabres won 3-2 despite the disallowed goal and tied the series 2-2 vs. Montreal Canadiens

The Buffalo Sabres managed to secure a vital 3-2 win in Game 4 of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs series against the Montreal Canadiens and tied the series at the Bell Centre on Tuesday, May 12. The Sabres opened the scoring in the first period through Mattias Samuelsson after a dominating start, before their second goal was disallowed on video review after the initial video review.

Head coach Lindy Ruff was unhappy about the goal being chalked off for the Sabres, which could have given them a decisive 2-0 lead early. He said, as per the NHL website, “The review where we get the goal, the review where they take it away. Which I totally disagree with, just for the fact that Dobes always is swinging his stick. He initiated the contact with (Konsta) Helenius with his stick coming across the crease.”

It led to Canadiens forward Alex Newhook scoring a tying goal soon after, before they finished the first period strongly, taking a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal in the last minute through Cole Caufield.

In the second period, Tage Thompson scored one of the most fortunate goals of his career when the puck ricocheted off the corner boards before beating Jakub Dobes to make it 2-2 for the visitors. Zach Benson got the winner for the Sabres in the third and final period.

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Written by

Arjun Sharma

Edited by

Sahil Prashar