Martin St-Louis sparks major controversy with decision after Game 4 defeat
Martin St-Louis pulled the plug on the Montreal Canadiens' Wednesday morning skate in Brossard, with the team flying to Buffalo instead ahead of Game 5 Thursday night.
The news broke late Tuesday from Stu Cowan, who confirmed the change of plans roughly an hour after the Habs dropped Game 4 at the Bell Centre.
Montreal lost that one 3-2, letting a chance to take a 3-1 stranglehold slip through their fingers. The series is now knotted 2-2 heading into a pivot point in Western New York.
Travel day instead of practice. That's a tell. St-Louis wants legs, not video, not drills, not a media circle outside the room in Brossard.
Cowan posted the update Tuesday night.
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Puck drop is set for 7 pm Thursday on CBC, SN and TVA Sports. KeyBank Center has been a problem for the Habs in this series.
Habs go quiet as Sabres hold home ice for Game 5
Lane Hutson has been the engine. Ten points in eleven playoff games, plus-2, running the top power play with no fear of the moment.
Nick Suzuki has nine, including six helpers. Cole Caufield has scored three times in eleven tries. Juraj Slafkovsky has four playoff goals but a minus-6 line that the coach hasn't been thrilled with.
Ivan Demidov is still hunting his first playoff goal. The rookie has four assists, three of them in the last five games, and the Sabres have started keying on him every shift.
Jakub Dobes will get the start. His .914 save percentage in the postseason is doing a lot of heavy lifting for a young goaltender thrown into a Round 2 fire.
Buffalo will lean on Tage Thompson, who's been a freight train with 11 points in 10 playoff games. Rasmus Dahlin is logging huge minutes and contributing on both ends.
Cutting practice isn't a panic move. It's St-Louis trusting that the work is in, the tape is short, and the legs need a break more than the brain needs a chalkboard.
The only worrying thing about this decision is that the Canadiens' players are really struggling on the power play. They lack that killer instinct, and they should have won on Tuesday night.
The only way to fix the situation is through practice drills, but Martin has decided otherwise. Let's trust him-he's the one who led the team to where it is today.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 12, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Pavel Dorofeyev | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Tomas Hertl | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Tage Thompson | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Josh Doan | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Jack Eichel | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Cutter Gauthier | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Mason McTavish | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Zach Benson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Cole Caufield | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Alex Newhook | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Mattias Samuelsson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Beckett Sennecke | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Olen Zellweger | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Rasmus Dahlin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ivan Demidov | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jake Evans | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Lane Hutson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Norris | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Brandon Saad | - | 1 | 1 | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||