Sabres make a surprise decision in net ahead of crucial game against the Canadiens
Alex Lyon is back in goal for Lindy Ruff as the Buffalo Sabres face elimination in Game 6 at the Bell Centre tonight.
That decision lands after a tense morning around Buffalo's crease, with all three Sabres goaltenders on the ice and real intrigue around whether Ruff might reach for Colten Ellis.
For a few hours, Ellis looked like the wild-card possibility.
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That would have been a massive swing for a team down 3-2 in the series and trying to drag this matchup back to Buffalo.
Instead, Ruff went back to the veteran he trusted to open the series.
That says a lot about where Buffalo's bench is at heading into the biggest puck drop of its season.
Lyon started this round as the Sabres' No. 1.
He gave Buffalo steady minutes early, but never fully grabbed the net and lost it after Game 3.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen then got his opening.
He answered in Game 4, when Buffalo won 3-2 in Montreal and blocked 27 shots while going 6-for-6 on the penalty kill.
That reset the series and gave the Sabres life. It also made Ruff's crease decision for Game 5 look simple.
Buffalo goes back to experience with Alex Lyon
Then Game 5 flipped it again. Luukkonen was pulled after allowing 5 goals on 23 shots, and Buffalo's net became the story all over again.
That's why the Ellis chatter got real.
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A coach facing elimination will consider anything, especially when he has already shuffled starters twice in one series.
But turning to a third-string goalie with no playoff minutes this spring would have been a massive gamble at the Bell Centre, where every early mistake can tilt the whole night.
Ruff made it clear before puck drop that he is open to any change that gives Buffalo a better chance.
That mindset matters as much as the starter itself.
Lyon now carries more than a crease assignment. He carries Buffalo's season, a locker room searching for calm, and a bench that needs its first save to settle everyone down.
If he gives the Sabres that, this series gets one more flight. If he doesn't, the major change in goal becomes Buffalo's last big move of the spring.
| POLL | ||
MAI 16 | 639 ANSWERS Sabres make a surprise decision in net ahead of crucial game against the Canadiens Did Lindy Ruff make the right call by going back to Alex Lyon ? | ||
| Yes | 437 | 68.4 % |
| No | 202 | 31.6 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
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YESTERDAY
MAY 20, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Dylan Coghlan | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Pavel Dorofeyev | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nic Dowd | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Brett Howden | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Gabriel Landeskog | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Valeri Nichushkin | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ross Colton | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jack Eichel | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Tomas Hertl | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ben Hutton | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nathan MacKinnon | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mitch Marner | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Brandon Saad | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Colton Sissons | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Devon Toews | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jack Ahcan | - | - | - | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | - | - | |
| Brent Burns | - | - | - | |
| Jack Drury | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||