BUFFALO – With Monday’s Game 7 tied halfway through the third period, Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram landed a shot from the point on Jakub Dobes that winger Jordan Greenway quickly poked through the goalie’s pads.
As the puck moved toward the goal line, referee Wes McCauley blew his whistle just before Sabres winger Beck Malenstyn knocked it into the net, raised his arms in celebration and the crowd erupted.
The goal did not count, and the Sabres later lost 3-2 in overtime to the Montreal Canadiens, ending their season in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“Just thought I’d try to leak off the backside and hopefully see a puck squirt loose, and that’s exactly what happened,” Malenstyn said Tuesday during his end-of-season media availability in KeyBank Center. “And, yeah, just as it was going in, you heard whistles blowing and I turned around, you’re kind of in that shocked state of excitement and confusion, and refs are calling it off, you think it’s in.”
Malenstyn said he experienced “a whirlwind of emotion there.”
“It was a chaotic sequence in a very meaningful game,” he said.
Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said following the game he did not receive an explanation for the quick whistle.
“I think coming from being at a very similar angle (as the official), it seemed like the puck was pretty clearly there, and I don’t know when the whistles went, what they were looking at,” Malenstyn said. “I know there’s obviously a bunch of different things about when they’re starting to initiate blowing. There’s so many different rules there.”
Montreal gets a quick whistle to bail them out of a goal against. #LetsGoBuffalo #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/Vii1GjVSUO
— Buffalo Hockey Moments (@SabresPlays) May 19, 2026