Buffalo's Game 7 Ghosts Won't Beat Themselves

Dahlin is carrying this team right now. One goal, four assists in Game 6. A Norris Trophy finalist putting up numbers that make you stop mid-bite and stare at the screen. Tage Thompson chipped in four points too, and Buffalo still needed seven unanswered goals to finish Montreal off.

That's how locked in this defense has been. And that's the version of this team that walks into KeyBank Center on Monday night with a shot at the Eastern Conference Final on the line.

Here's the thing: Buffalo hasn't won a Game 7 since 1997.

Derek Plante beat the Senators in overtime. That was before smartphones, before the current salary cap, before Lindy Ruff coached a single game behind the Sabres bench. Since then? One and six. Ruff himself is 1-4 in winner-take-all games. The ghosts aren't metaphorical — they're structural.

Montreal doesn't flinch in these spots.

The Canadiens have won more Game 7s than any franchise in hockey history. And they're 8-6 on the road in them. They just survived Tampa Bay on the road in Round 1, with Jakub Dobes stopping 28 shots in a 2-1 win. That kind of composure doesn't disappear. Buffalo's young core has never been here. Montreal's core has been doing this for generations.

And then there's Carolina, waiting like a freight train. The Hurricanes are 8-0 this postseason. Eight starts, eight games, zero losses. They swept Ottawa and Philadelphia, becoming the first team since the four-round format was introduced in 1987 to sweep both their first two best-of-7 series in a single spring. Frederik Andersen has given up two goals or fewer in every single start. Nobody in that locker room has played since May 9th. They'll be rested, sharp, and dangerous.

The question isn't whether Carolina is beatable. It's whether whoever comes out of Monday's game can still stand upright by the time they get there.

But first, Buffalo has to actually close one out at home.

Dahlin has to be Dahlin. The power play that went 4-for-6 in Game 6 has to stay hot. And the crowd at KeyBank Center needs to be the loudest thing this city has produced since 2011.

Montreal's done this before. Buffalo hasn't.

That's the whole story.

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What to watch: Who starts in net for Buffalo? Neither Alex Lyon nor Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has played a Game 7. That's a variable Montreal doesn't have. Also watch whether Dahlin's minutes keep climbing. If he's playing 28 or 30 a night, he's either running the offense into the ground or carrying them to Round 3.

Puck drops at 7:30 PM ET.

ESPN, SN, CBC, TVAS.

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Sources: NHL Game 7 lookahead | Sportsnet Game 6 recap | Hurricanes sweep recap | CBS Sports Hurricanes coverage