The eight goals were the second most in a playoff game in Sabres history, coming up just one short of tying the most (nine in Game 6 against the Boston Bruins in 1992).
Rasmus Dahlin picked up five points (one goal, four assists), a franchise record by a defenseman. Tage Thompson picked up four points (one goal, three assists), while goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen recorded 17 saves on 17 shots after the team pulled starter Alex Lyon early in the first period.
The Sabres are 1-1 in Game 7s as the home team (1-6 all-time). Meanwhile, the Canadiens are 8-6 in Game 7s on the road (16-9 all-time).
Game 7 between the Sabres and Canadiens is scheduled for Monday, May 18th, as the Carolina Hurricanes will continue to wait and see who they'll face in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Recap & Highlights
This was as wild as an elimination game could get in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Dahlin got things started after scoring his third goal of the playoffs just 32 seconds into the game, giving Buffalo a 1-0 lead.
It was the fastest postseason game-opening goal by a defenseman since Devon Toews (21 seconds) in 2021, and the second-fastest by any player in Sabres history, still well behind Derek Roy's elimination game goal in 2007 when he scored in nine seconds.
One minute later, Arber Xhekaj scored his first goal of the playoffs to tie things up 1-1 on the team's first shot on goal of the game.
But it would quickly turn into a Habs scoring feast as they would find the net two more times on just two shots on goal.
The first came from Ivan Demidov on the team's first power play of the game to make it 2-1, the second being a short-handed goal from Jake Evans for his second of the playoffs, who assisted on Xhelaj's, to make it 3-1.
Lane Hutson became the sixth defenseman in Habs history to record 11 or more assists during a single playoff run, the first Chris Chelios and Petr Svoboda both did it in 1989.
With Evans' goal, the Habs became the first team on record since real-time shot tracking began in 2010 to score on each of their first three shots on goal during a playoff game.
Not even a full 11 minutes into the first, Buffalo decided to pull goaltender Alex Lyon after giving up the three goals, bringing in Luukkonen, who the team pulled during their Game 5 loss.
And it proved to be the right decision through the second period. Luukonen recorded 11 saves on 11 shots before entering the third period, giving the Sabres a chance to rally - exactly what they did.
Jason Zucker picked up his second goal of the playoffs at the end of the first period for the Sabres' first of four power-play goals to cut the Habs' lead to one.
Similar to the first, which he recorded an assist on, Zach Benson scored exactly one minute into the second period for his fifth of the playoffs to tie the game 3-3.
Then, Buffalo really started to take control of the game after putting up 17 shots in the second with two more goals.
Jack Quinn scored Buffalo's second power play goal of the game, also his first goal of the playoffs, as they retook the lead with under 10 minutes to go in the second. It marked the third game this series in which the Sabres scored at least twice on the power play - they won both of those previous games (Game 1 and Game 4).
A couple of minutes later, the Sabres extended their lead to 5-3.
Konsta Helenius scored his second of the playoffs on a 2-v-1 opportunity as Zucker (2) and Dahlin (8) picked up the assists.
Buffalo would enter the third period outshooting the Canadiens 28-15.
Montreal goaltender Jacob Fowler made his first career postseason appearance after starter Jakub Dobes was pulled following Buffalo's sixth goal of the game to double their lead.
Quinn scored his second of the game, assisted, yet again, by Thompson (10) and Dahlin (9) with 10 minutes to go in the third. It was the third power play goal for the Sabres, the most by them in any game these playoffs, before they went on to record their fourth before the end of the game.
After previously going 1-for-46 on the power play against the Boston Bruins, the Sabres improved to 8-for-23 against the Habs.
Montreal went with the empty-net with seven minutes to go, but couldn't get anything done to start a comeback. Thompson scored his fifth goal of the playoffs on the empty net to really put the game out of reach at 7-3.
Then, rookie Zach Metsa scored his first playoff goal to finish things off, making it 8-3, after a few scrums broke out between the teams.
After previously going 1-for-46 on the power play against the Boston Bruins, the Sabres improved to 10-for-25 against the Habs.
The Sabres outshot the Canadiens 36-22 in the end, as the series now heads back to Buffalo for a winner-takes-all Game 7.