The real reason refs are robbing the Habs is finally out and it's worse than thought
Jakub Dobes got run through Monday night in Montreal, and the officials decided that was fine.
Jason Zucker drove straight into the Montreal Canadiens goaltender in his own crease. The 24-year-old netminder went down. The Habs expected goalie interference. The whistle didn't come.
Buffalo grabbed the puck off the ensuing play and tied the game 2-2 on the very next shift.
The Habs should have been on the power play. Instead they were behind on the scoreboard. That's a 2-goal swing in the span of one bad read by the referee.
The non-call appeared to suggest the officials thought Dobes embellished. The kid hit the ice and stayed down.
Zucker returned to the Buffalo lineup for this elimination night after missing time with a block injury.
The 34-year-old veteran put up 24 goals and 45 points in 62 regular season games at a 4.75 million cap hit.
-
St-Louis loses a swing point with the series on the line
Martin St-Louis didn't get the call. He didn't get the power play. He got a goal against instead.
That's the kind of moment that can tilt a Game 7. The Habs entered the night with home ice, the loudest building in hockey, and the energy of a team that nearly closed the series twice.
Now the math is square. Buffalo's lineup has been patched together for weeks.
-
Sam Carrick was scratched after the Xhekaj scrum. Now Zucker comes back into the lineup and immediately makes a difference, just maybe not in the way most expected.
The non-call follows a series-long pattern of officiating storylines. The Phillip Danault no-goal in Game 3. The Joe Veleno headshot that went uncalled in Game 6. The Tage Thompson Zamboni-bounce fluke in Game 4.
This series will be remembered for what the referees did or didn't see as much as for the goals that decided it.
Jakub Dobes has been the Habs goaltender carrying the load through this round.
The 24-year-old has been the breakout story behind the rebuild, the one who celebrated the Slafkovsky power play goal in Game 3 by skating toward the Buffalo bench.
That swagger is part of why some officials might be quicker to give him the benefit of the doubt. Or quicker to question whether he went down too easily.
Either way, the read on this play was wrong. Zucker entered the crease and made contact. The goaltender is supposed to be protected.
Cole Caufield's frustration from Game 6 is back on the table. Ivan Demidov has been generating chances but only got his first playoff goal recently.
The Habs top six needs to bury one before the night gets away.
The series gets decided by whoever wakes up next. The Key Bank Center is loud. The officiating is louder.
|
LIVE
MAY 18, 2026
| ||||
| 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 | ||||