Police reportedly responded after chaos broke out following the Canadiens loss
Martin St-Louis and Nick Suzuki now head to Game 7 with an ugly scene hanging over Montreal after Friday's loss.
The Canadiens blew a 3-1 lead early in Game 6, then got buried 8-3 by Buffalo in a night that flipped from party mood to total frustration.
That alone was a brutal hit. Montreal had the Bell Centre ready for a closeout and instead got shoved onto the road for one more game.
But the hockey damage did not stay inside the rink.
The report says a serious criminal incident took place downtown after the game, when a Montreal police vehicle was set on fire near the gatherings around the Bell Centre.
The flames were brought under control around midnight, and surveillance cameras reportedly captured images of suspects before and after the event.
That matters because this is no longer just a story about a bad playoff loss. It became a public safety story in the middle of one of the biggest Canadiens nights of the year.
The flames were quickly brought under control around midnight. Surveillance cameras in the area reportedly captured the suspects before the suspected arson attack, as well as the direction in which they fled afterward.
Photos: Stéphane Grégoire, camera patrol reporter at Radio-Canada
A disturbing postgame incident after the Canadiens defeat is generating major reactions
The piece is careful on one important point. At this stage, there is nothing showing whether the people involved were actually Canadiens fans or simply individuals who took advantage of the crowd and chaos.
That distinction matters. Thousands gathered peacefully around the building, and the report says this incident does not reflect the behavior of the overwhelming majority who were there to watch the game.
Still, it gives St-Louis' team a rotten backdrop heading into Buffalo. Instead of all the focus staying on the collapse, the city is now also dealing with the fallout from an ugly act downtown.
And the collapse itself was bad enough. Montreal had the series in hand for a moment, then watched Buffalo take over and force a Game 7 with a complete dismantling.
That is why this story lands with so much weight. The Canadiens lost control of the game, and outside the rink the night also drifted somewhere it never should have gone.
Now Montreal has to reset for the hardest game of its season while the city tries to shake off both embarrassment and anger from Friday night.
If the Canadiens recover in Buffalo, the talk will swing back to hockey fast. But if they do not, Game 6 will be remembered for a lot more than one ugly scoreboard.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 16, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Rasmus Dahlin | 1 | 4 | 5 | |
| Tage Thompson | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
| Jack Quinn | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Zach Benson | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jake Evans | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jason Zucker | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Ivan Demidov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Konsta Helenius | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Zach Metsa | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Arber Xhekaj | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Bowen Byram | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Cole Caufield | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Lane Hutson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Michael Matheson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ryan McLeod | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Norris | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mattias Samuelsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Zachary Bolduc | - | - | - | |
| Alexandre Carrier | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||