Sabres Force Game Seven with Canadiens

Tage Thompson (UConn) assisted on three goals, and also scored one into an empty net as the visiting Buffalo Sabres staved off elimination last night with an 8-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens in Game Six of their 2026 Stanley Cup Playoff second-round series, which is now tied at three games apiece.

Jason Zucker (Denver) had a goal and assist for the Sabres, who scored seven consecutive unanswered goals over the final 46 minutes of play after falling behind, 3-1, in the first period. Buffalo's Zach Metsa (Quinnipiac) also tallied his first career playoff goal in his first NHL postseason appearance. Alex Lyon (Yale) made one save on four shots for the Sabres in goal, before being replaced by Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.

Jakub Dobes (Ohio State) stopped 27 of 33 shots for the Canadiens before giving way late in regulation to Jacob Fowler (Boston College), who made his own Stanley Cup Playoff debut in relief. The deciding Game Seven of this Eastern Conference semifinal is Monday night in Buffalo, with the winner to face the Carolina Hurricanes in the conference final.

Sabres Win First Playoff Series Since 2007

Alex Tuch (Boston College) and Josh Norris (Michigan) scored the first and last goals of the game, respectively, and the Buffalo Sabres moved on to the second round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 4-1 victory over the Boston Bruins last night. Buffalo wins the best-of-seven Eastern Conference first-round series, four games to two.

Tage Thompson (UConn) had two assists and Alex Lyon (Yale) stopped 25 shots as the Sabres won their first postseason series since 2007. Prior to this year, the Sabres had not made the playoffs in 14 seasons, which set an NHL record. Buffalo will now face the winner of the Montreal-Tampa Bay series, which will wrap up with a deciding seventh game tomorrow night in Florida.

Sabres Take Back Series Lead Over Bruins

Alex Tuch (Boston College) notched the game-winning goal early in the third period, and Alex Lyon (Yale) made 24 saves in net to boost the Buffalo Sabres to a 3-1 win over the Boston Bruins last night at TD Garden in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Buffalo now leads the best-of seven Eastern Conference series, two games to one.

Charlie McAvoy (Boston University) assisted on the lone goal for the Bruins, who have never led in this series. The Sabres rebounded to win Game One in Buffalo, while Boston held on to win Game Two. Game Four is Sunday in Boston (2 p.m. ET).

Devils Sweep Sabres to Open NHL Season

Paul Cotter (Western Michigan) scored a goal in each game as the New Jersey Devils opened the 2024-25 NHL regular season with a two-step sweep of the Buffalo Sabres in the Czech Republic. The Canton, Mich. native tallied a goal and an assist in New Jersey's season-opening 4-1 win on Friday, and then added another goal in Saturday's 3-1 triumph. Owen Power (Michigan) and Tage Thompson (UConn) scored for the Sabres on the weekend, while Devon Levi (Northeastern) stopped 37 shots on Saturday.

Cotter played in eight games with WMU during the 2018-19 campaign, recording one assist before leaving Kalamazoo to play for London (OHL). He spent the last three seasons with the Vegas Golden Knights, notching career highs of 18 assists and 25 points last year in 76 outings. The Devils return to action at home in Newark on Thursday against Toronto, while the Sabres will visit Los Angeles that evening.

UConn's Thompson on Scoring Streak for Sabres

Tage Thompson (UConn) is on a roll. The 25-year-old forward for the Buffalo Sabres has recorded six goals and five assists for 11 points in his last three games, all wins at home. The Sabres now stand third in the NHL's Eastern Conference with a 7-3-0 record.

Thompson first tallied a goal and three assists in a 4-3 overtime victory over Chicago on Oct. 29. He then celebrated Halloween by scoring three goals and setting up three others in an 8-3 rout of Detroit, and followed up with a goal and two assists tonight in a 6-3 triumph over Pittsburgh.

Thompson has collected 7-7⁠—14 points in his first 10 outings this season. Drafted 26th overall by St. Louis in 2016 after playing for the U.S. National Under-18 Team, he has recorded 63-54⁠—117 points in 233 career NHL regular-season outings to date. 

Born in Phoenix, Ariz., Thompson skated two seasons (2016, 2017) at UConn before turning pro. In 70 career NCAA appearances with the Huskies, he notched 33-31⁠—64 points.

Michigan's Power Scores First NHL Goal

It took five games, but much-heralded rookie defenseman Owen Power (Michigan) finally has his first NHL goal.

Power, 19, the top selection in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft by the Buffalo Sabres, scored their fourth goal in last night's 5-2 victory at New Jersey. He took a pass from a prone Jeff Skinner on the left side in-close, and then swept the puck underneath Devils goaltender Andrew Hammond (Bowling Green) less than nine minutes into the third period to break open a 3-2 game. Tage Thompson (UConn) also assisted on the goal.

Power, from Mississauga, Ontario, now has one goal and one assist in five NHL games, four of which have been Buffalo victories. He recorded six goals and 42 assists for 48 points over the past two seasons at Michigan, and led the Wolverines to both this year's Big Ten championship and the NCAA Frozen Four.

Also concerning former Michigan players on Thursday night, Andrew Copp tallied a natural hat trick for the visiting New York Rangers in a 6-3 win over the rival New York Islanders. The Ann Arbor native, who was acquired by the Rangers from Winnipeg earlier this year, skated with his hometown Michigan from 2012 to 2015, collecting 40 goals and 81 points over three seasons. He has now appeared in over 500 NHL contests, regular and post-season combined, and has registered just over 200 career points to date.

Sabres Claim 2022 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic

Vinny Hinostroza (Notre Dame) notched two goals and Tage Thompson (Connecticut) sealed matters with an empty-net tally as the Buffalo Sabres took the 2022 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic from the Toronto Maple Leafs by a 5-2 count outdoors in Hamilton, Ont. on Sunday afternoon.

Hinostroza, who also assisted on Buffalo's first goal of the afternoon, put the Sabres ahead, 3-2, on a bad angle shot just over five minutes into the third period. After Kyle Okposo (Minnesota) helped set up an insurance goal over eight minutes later, Thompson sent a puck into an empty Toronto net with 2:25 remaining in regulation to close out the scoring. It was Thompson's 24th goal of the season, and went along with the assist he drew on Hinostroza's first goal of the day.

Alexander Kerfoot (Harvard) assisted on Toronto's second goal, as the Sabres outshot the Maple Leafs, 38-36, before 26,119 spectators at Hamilton's Tim Hortons Field. The two teams combined to go 0-for-7 on the power play. The Sabres were the first U.S.-based team to participate in the Heritage Classic, in its sixth iteration, and also became the first American club to win what had previously been an all-Canadian event.

Former BC, BU Players Traded in Tuch and Eichel

A pair of former Hockey East players were part of a mega-trade in the NHL on Thursday.

Jack Eichel (Boston University), the No. 2 pick overall in the 2015 NHL Draft, was dealt from the Buffalo Sabres after six seasons to the Vegas Golden Knights, along with a 2023 third-round NHL draft choice. Going the other way to upstate New York were fellow forwards Alex Tuch (Boston College) and Peyton Krebs, along with a 2022 first-round NHL draft pick and a 2023 second-round selection.

Eichel, 25, from North Chelmsford, Mass., has tallied 139 goals and 216 assists for 355 points in 375 NHL outings, all in regular-season play, although he has been sidelined since last year due to a neck injury. He is expected to undergo surgery in the near future, and will be out for at least three months afterwards. In his only NCAA campaign in 2014-15 at BU, Eichel recorded 26-45—71 points in 40 outings, won the Hobey Baker Memorial Award as the nation's top player, and led the Terriers to the Beanpot tournament title, the Hockey East crown, and the NCAA championship game.

Tuch, 25, from Syracuse, N.Y., began his NHL career by playing six scoreless games with Minnesota, which drafted him 18th overall in 2014. Traded to Vegas in 2017, he helped the expansion Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season, and has notched 61-78—139 points in 255 regular-season NHL outings, to go with 19-14—33 points in 66 playoff games. He helped BC to two NCAA tournament berths and a Beanpot championship in his two seasons, scoring the winning goal himself in overtime in the 2016 Beanpot title game, and registered 32-30—62 points in 77 contests in all for the Eagles.

Both Eichel and Tuch are products of the U.S. National Team Development Program in Michigan, where they were teammates for two seasons.

Adams Chosen as New GM of Buffalo Sabres

Kevyn Adams (Miami) was named the new general manager of the NHL's Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday. A product of Clarence, N.Y., Adams has worked in various roles within the Sabres organization since 2009 after retiring as an active NHL player. He won the Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006.

After two season of junior hockey with Niagara (NAHL), where he averaged a point per game in 95 outings, Adams, a center, skated four collegiate seasons with Miami (Ohio). He collected 69 goals and 102 assists for 171 points in 151 appearances with the then-Redskins, while also helping them to their first-ever NCAA tournament appearance as a freshman in 1993.

Drafted 25th overall by the Boston Bruins in 1993, Adams turned pro in 1996-97 with the expansion Grand Rapids Griffins, then of the International Hockey League, where he scored a career-high 22 goals. He split the next three seasons between the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs and their American Hockey League affiliate in St. John's. He recorded a career-high 35 assists and 50 points with St. John's in 1998-99, and in 161 career AHL regular season games registered 38-67—150 points .

Adams played a total of 540 NHL regular-season games with Toronto, Columbus, Florida, Carolina, Phoenix and Chicago, from 1997 to 2008, and notched 59-77—136 points before retiring as a player following the 2007-08 campaign. He twice helped Carolina to the Stanley Cup final, in 2002 and 2006, and scored 16 goals in the regular season and postseason combined in 2005-06 as the Hurricanes claimed their first-ever Stanley Cup championship.

Adams, 45, joined the Sabres organization in 2009 as a development coach. After two seasons in that capacity, he served the next two years as an assistant coach with the NHL team before spending the following six seasons as Buffalo's director and youth hockey supervisor. He was then named Senior Vice President of Business Administration in 2019, and was working in that role when he was tabbed as general manager.

Adams also served the last seven years with the Buffalo Junior Sabres (OJHL) as that club's president. In addition, he coached their entry in the 2019-20 Quebec PeeWee Tournament.

BC's Gionta Joins Bruins After Olympics

U.S. Olympic 2018 men's hockey team captain Brian Gionta (Boston College) will be returning to the National Hockey League. The former Boston College All-America selection has signed with the Boston Bruins after leading the U.S. to a quarterfinal appearance in Pyeongchang, South Korea. According to NHL.com, the one-year contract is for $700,000 and makes Gionta eligible for the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The 5-foot-7 native of Rochester, N.Y. went scoreless during the Olympics, recording a team-high 16 shots on goals as the U.S. fell to Slovenia and Russia and also defeated Slovakia twice before falling to the Czech Republic in a shootout to finish seventh overall.

Gionta, 39, has registered 289-299--588 points in 1,006 NHL regular season contests with the New Jersey Devils, Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres, and served as team captain of both the Canadiens and Sabres. He also has notched 32-36--68 points in 112 career Stanley Cup Playoff games with the Canadiens and Devils. A third-round draft choice (82^nd overall) of New Jersey in 1998, he won a Stanley Cup with the Devils in 2003, and still holds the franchise's single-season record with a 48-goal campaign in 2005-06.

Gionta played four years at BC (1997-2001), where he recorded a school record 123 goals and eight hat tricks in 164 games. He stands third all-time in school annals with 232 career points, and led the Eagles to a total of four Hockey East regular-season and tournament titles combined, along with four NCAA Frozen Four appearances and the 2001 national title.

A four-time All-Hockey East selection and a three-time All-America choice, Gionta was also a three-time finalist for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award as college hockey's best player. He also won both the Walter Brown Award and the Hockey East Player of the Year Award as a senior in 2000-01, after scoring 33 goals for a second consecutive season.

Gionta last played in the NHL in 2016-17 with Buffalo, where he tallied 15-20—35 points in 81 games. He played one game with Rochester (AHL) prior to this year's Olympics, scoring one goal in his first minor-league appearance since the 2004-05 NHL lockout.

Gionta, who has been assigned his customary jersey No. 12 by the Bruins, may appear in Boston's lineup in its next game, on Tuesday at home against Carolina at TD Garden.