Nobody expected Martin St-Louis to say this minutes before Game 7
Martin St-Louis steps into the second Game 7 of his coaching career Monday night in Buffalo, and the Canadiens bench boss says the lesson from his first one is simple.
The Habs head coach was asked by Anthony Martineau what he learned from his Round 1 Game 7 win over the Lightning. His answer was blunt.
«What matters isn't being perfect. It's finding a way to win.»
- Anthony Martineau
That clip dropped at 2:11 PM, hours before puck drop at KeyBank Center. The series is tied 3-3.
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The Canadiens are here because they survived Tampa Bay in seven, capped by a 2-1 road win on May 3. They've been pushed to the edge again.
Game 6 in Montreal was ugly. Buffalo dropped eight goals on the Habs in a 3-8 home loss Saturday night that flipped the series on its head.
Buffalo blowout puts Jakub Dobes and the Habs on the brink
Jakub Dobes started 13 of these postseason games at a .906 clip.
Nick Suzuki has 12 points in 13 playoff games, but the captain is sitting at minus-5 in the postseason. He needs to be better at five-on-five.
Cole Caufield has four goals in the run but went minus-7 along the way. Lane Hutson, the 22-year-old defenseman, leads all Habs blueliners with 13 playoff points.
Buffalo finished the regular season at 50-23-9 with a plus-47 goal differential. They earned home ice for a reason. Tonight they get to use it.
The Habs went 7-3-0 down the stretch in their last 10 regular season games. That version of the team needs to show up in the next 60 minutes, or the season ends in a building that wasn't supposed to be hostile this round.
St-Louis won the only Game 7 he's ever coached. Win the next one and Montreal punches a ticket to the conference final. Lose it and the offseason starts on a flight home.
Imperfect, by his own definition, is fine. Finding a way isn't optional.
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LIVE
MAY 18, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Zachary Bolduc | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Rasmus Dahlin | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Phillip Danault | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jordan Greenway | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Alex Newhook | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Alexandre Carrier | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Kaiden Guhle | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Lane Hutson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Beck Malenstyn | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ryan McLeod | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Owen Power | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mattias Samuelsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nick Suzuki | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Alexandre Texier | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Zach Benson | - | - | - | |
| Bowen Byram | - | - | - | |
| Cole Caufield | - | - | - | |
| Kirby Dach | - | - | - | |
| Ivan Demidov | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||