Huge controversy over the first goal and the verdict is now official
Phillip Danault opened the scoring in Game 7 against the Buffalo Sabres, and Lindy Ruff was never going to get the chance to challenge it. Here's why.
The buzz around the Tricolore goal got loud quickly Monday night. Looked like a skate. Looked like a kick. Looked like something Buffalo would want a second look at.
But there's a problem with that idea, and it's written right into the NHL rulebook. Coaches cannot challenge a goal for a suspected kicking motion. That's not on the table.
Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News spelled it out during the game. Every goal already gets reviewed by the Situation Room in Toronto, and Toronto saw a redirection, not a distinct kicking motion.
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That's a massive distinction. A redirection off the skate is a legal goal. A clear kicking motion is not. The league made its call quickly, and the play stood.
So Ruff was stuck. No timeout to burn on a review. No coach's challenge to gamble. Just a 1-0 hole on the road for his team in a game the Sabres absolutely needed to win at home.
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A redirection ruling that flips the pressure back on Buffalo
The bigger picture matters. This series is tied 3-3 heading into Monday's deciding game, with Buffalo coming off a 3-8 wipeout at the Bell Centre.
Danault has been quietly impactful all spring. He's collected 5 assists through 13 playoff games and is sitting at a plus-5, the kind of two-way line that Martin St-Louis trusts in any situation.
Now he's added a goal in the most important game of Montreal's season. The veteran center had 6 goals across 75 regular-season contests, so this one carries weight.
For Buffalo, the optics are brutal. A team that posted a 26-10-5 home record all year now needs to dig out of an early deficit with no procedural lifeline available.
The crowd at KeyBank Center wanted blood after that goal. They wanted a challenge, an overturn, anything. The rule book gave them a shrug instead.
Does any of this matter if the Sabres come back and win? Maybe not. But if this game ends in Montreal's favour, that opening sequence becomes the moment Buffalo's season turned on a technicality nobody on their bench could touch.
Ruff knows the rule. He didn't like the application. And there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.
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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 | |
| 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 | - | - | - | |
| Alexandre Carrier | - | - | - | |
| Cole Caufield | - | - | - | |
| Kirby Dach | - | - | - | |
| Ivan Demidov | - | - | - | |
| Josh Doan | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||