MONTREAL (AP) — Zach Benson broke a tie on a third-period power play on his 21st birthday and the Buffalo Sabres beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 on Tuesday night in Game 4 to even the Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Benson took a pass in the slot from Josh Doan, kicked the puck to his stick and put a backhander past goalie Jakub Dobes at 4:41 of the third. The goal came with Jake Evans off for holding Peyton Krebs.
Game 5 is Thursday night in Buffalo, with Game 6 in Montreal on Saturday night. The series winner will face Carolina in the Eastern Conference final. The Hurricanes swept both of their series.
Tage Thompson tied it for Buffalo in the second period with a fluke goal and also had an assist. Defenseman Mattias Samuelsson opened the scoring and Doan had two assists.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen replaced Alex Lyon in goal after the Sabres dropped Games 2 and 3, making 28 saves in his first action since being pulled in the third period of a Game 2 loss to Boston in the first round.
Alex Newhook and Cole Caufield scored for Montreal. Dobes stopped 19 shots.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3, DUCKS 2, OT
LAS VEGAS (AP) —Pavel Dorofeyev scored his second goal of the game at 4:10 of overtime to give Vegas a victory over Anaheim, moving the Golden Knights a victory away from advancing to the Western Conference final.
Game 6 of the second-round series is Thursday night at Anaheim.
The Golden Knights can reach the conference final for the first time since winning the Stanley Cup in 2023. Anaheim, making its first playoff appearance in eight years, will try force a Game 7 back in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Tomas Hertl had gone 29 games going back to the regular season without a goal, but now has two in two games. He also had the primary assist on Dorofeyev’s power-play goal in the first period. Jack Eichel had two assists, including the primary one on the winner.
Carter Hart stopped 34 shots.