The worst call of the playoffs just robbed Buffalo and ended their entire series
The Montreal Canadiens caught the kind of break Monday night that Buffalo Sabres fans will be screaming about for years.
Beck Malenstyn picked up a loose puck in the crease and scored. The referee blew the whistle anyway. The goal was waved off. The play was dead before the puck even crossed the line.
If the goal had counted, the Sabres would have taken a 3-2 lead.
The fan view from inside KeyBank Center told a different story. Paul Hamilton tweeted from his seat that the puck was never actually covered by the Habs goaltender. The whistle was premature.
That's the kind of mistake that sits on top of an already controversial series. Buffalo had been one bounce away from putting Game 7 firmly in their corner on home ice. Instead, the play stopped on a guess.
Malenstyn isn't a star. The 28-year-old fourth-liner has 14 points across 81 regular season games at a 1.35 million cap hit. But he's been a depth piece Lindy Ruff has trusted in this postseason.
His 2 playoff points across 8 games include the kind of meat-and-potatoes work that wins close playoff games. Picking up trash in the crease is what fourth-liners do. The whistle robbed him of it.
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Ruff loses a goal at home in a series that has produced nothing else
The officiating storylines in this Sabres-Canadiens second round are now legendary.
The Phillip Danault no-goal in Game 3. The Joe Veleno headshot uncalled in Game 6. The Jason Zucker goaltender interference call that never came earlier in this Game 7. The Beck Malenstyn quick whistle.
That's four separate moments where one side feels robbed. Both fan bases have screenshots. Both fan bases have receipts.
Martin St-Louis isn't apologizing. He doesn't need to. The Habs head coach takes the call and moves on.
Jakub Dobes was the goaltender on the play. The 24-year-old netminder has been the breakout story of this Habs postseason run.
The .901 save percentage and 20 wins in his regular season got him this stage.
The Buffalo lineup is still patched together. Sam Carrick was scratched. Jason Zucker came back from his block injury. The Sabres are getting it done at home with whoever can put on a jersey.
A quick whistle in a Game 7 elimination night is the kind of memory that follows officials into their next assignment. The league will review it. The league won't reverse it.
For Buffalo, the next chance has to come from somewhere else. The Sabres can't count on the bounces. They have to make them.
For Montreal, the bail-out was the kind of moment a Cinderella road run is built on. The team that keeps catching breaks in the other building is usually the team playing for something bigger.
The Montreal Canadiens completed a stunning overtime victory on an Alex Newhook goal, silencing the crowd at the KeyBank Center in an instant.
What began as a deafening atmosphere in Buffalo turned into pure shock as Sabres fans watched the series slip away in heartbreaking fashion.
Many in the building will never forget the controversial quick whistle earlier in the game, a moment that still feels impossible to accept for Buffalo supporters.
By the time Newhook buried the winner, the arena had gone completely silent.
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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 | |
| 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 | ||||