Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff faced a critical decision ahead of Game 4 against the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night: keep riding the horses who got him here or shake up the lineup after the Habs skated circles around his team over the past two games.
It appears Ruff, a Jack Adams Award finalist, chose the latter.
The Sabres unveiled new forward lines, a change to the third defense pair and an expected goalie switch at Tuesday's morning skate. Here's a look via Joe Yerdon of Bleacher Report:
Buffalo Sabres | Projected Lineup | Game 4 |
|---|---|---|
Peyton Krebs | Tage Thompson | Alex Tuch |
Zach Benson | Josh Norris | Josh Doan |
Jason Zucker | Konsta Helenius | Jack Quinn |
Jordan Greenway | Ryan McLeod | Beck Malenstyn |
Rasmus Dahlin | Mattias Samuelsson | |
Bowen Byram | Owen Power | |
Luke Schenn | Conor Timmins | |
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen | ||
Alex Lyon |
Buffalo needed at least a few alterations in order to find a spark. Montreal was the far superior team en route to grabbing a 2-1 lead in the second-round series, and Ruff couldn't stand idly by with his team's run in the 2026 NHL Playoffs hanging in the balance.
The changes the Sabres are seemingly going with — nothing is official until the lineup is released shortly before faceoff — do come with a fair amount of risk, though.
Why now on Sabres prized prospect Konsta Helenius?
The Sabres will burn the first year of Helenius' entry-level contract if he does take the ice in Game 4. It's not the wrong decision in a vacuum but why wasn't he playing previously if the coaching staff believed he represented one of the club's best nine forwards?
Helenius was tremendous for the AHL's Rochester Americans this season, tallying 62 points (21 goals and 41 assists) in 63 regular-season appearances, and he held his own during a brief stint in Buffalo earlier in the campaign (four points in nine games).
The Sabres selected him as a member of their "Black Aces" practice squad, yet fans have been clamoring for the top prospect to join the lineup since late in the campaign. It seemed like the contract considerations were playing a role in the decision.
Now the Blue and Gold are calling on Helenius at a moment where they could be two games away from postseason elimination. Asking a 20-year-old rookie to play the role of savior is a bit much and, if it doesn't spark a series comeback, they burned the contract year for essentially no payback.
Meanwhile, dropping McLeod to the fourth line is quite a statement. While the two-way center has struggled in the playoffs, he's been one of Buffalo's most dependable players over the past two years.
Deciding the maintain the trio of Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch and Peyton Krebs, who've been dominated by the Habs in the series, is another head-scratching choice by Ruff and his staff.
Playing Luke Schenn is a crazy choice by Buffalo
There were 212 NHL defensemen who played at least 500 minutes of 5-on-5 hockey this season. Schenn ranked 211th in expected goal share at 38.9% counting his time with both the Sabres and the Winnipeg Jets, according to Natural Stat Trick.
The 36-year-old Canadian has played just four games since being acquired by Buffalo at the 2026 NHL trade deadline in early March, and his last appearance came on April 15, nearly a month ago.
Schenn likely won't see a ton of shifts as the Sabres are going to lean heavily on their top-four defense group of Dahlin, Samuelsson, Byram and Power. Timmins is sticking in the lineup because he's provided penalty-killing value throughout the season.
Still, every time the bruising 6-foot-2 blueliner steps on the ice will be a massive risk for a team that can't afford to give a talented Canadiens squad time and space to operate in the offensive zone. That's exactly how they got burned the last two contests.
Don't be surprised if Schenn plays less than five minutes, similar to when Michael Kesselring replaced Logan Stanley in Game 6 of the opening round against the Boston Bruins.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was shaky vs. the Bruins
The Sabres utilized a three-goalie rotation featuring UPL, Alex Lyon and Colten Ellis to near perfection throughout the regular season. Being able to switch things up without missing a beat when a netminder was struggling or injured helped spark the team's turnaround.
It helped again vs. Boston in Round 1. Luukkonen didn't look comfortable between the pipes in either of the first two games, which led Ruff to hand the start to Lyon in Game 3. The veteran was terrific, posting a .955 save percentage in five games to help the Blue and Gold advance.
Lyon's numbers have dipped against Montreal (.879 SV% in three outings), but it's essentially impossible to blame him given the Sabres' complete defensive breakdown. It's not like he's been given up a bunch of soft goals.
Nevertheless, the coaching staff was comfortable with the rotation all season and they're going back to it. Perhaps a chance to press the reset button and watch from the bench helped UPL calm his nerves after looking totally out of sorts early in the Boston matchup.
Could the handful of changes work? Absolutely. Ruff has been pushing the right buttons for Buffalo all season and a fresh look was certainly needed.
Betting on a rookie, one of the NHL's worst defensemen from a statistical perspective and a goalie with no track record of playoff success is far from a guarantee, though.
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