The Importance Of Winning Faceoffs For The Habs

The Montreal Canadiens won Game 5 against the Buffalo Sabres by a score of 6-3 to take a 3-2 series lead. One of the biggest but underrated reasons for the team’s success in the series is how well they have done in the faceoff circle. After 5 games in their series with the Sabres, the Habs have won 56.8 of the draws, and it has contributed greatly to their success. This is especially the case when it comes to offensive zone faceoffs and goals for the Canadiens. Just how much has it helped the Habs score throughout the series?

So underrated, the faceoffs are a huge part of the Habs success.

— Newy (@newfienewy) May 15, 2026

While it may not always have a direct impact on all the Habs’ goals, face-off wins surprisingly played a huge part in half of the Canadiens’ goals in Game 5. This is also why Phillip Danault finished the night with 2 assists. In fact, most of the goals that the Habs have scored as a result of a faceoff win in this series have been thanks to Danault; we will touch on his impact later, but for now, let’s talk about how exactly the Habs took advantage of their faceoff wins to score in Game 5.

The first faceoff win that led directly to a goal came right after the Sabres took a 2-1 lead. On that ensuing faceoff, Danault won the faceoff right to Alexandre Carrier, who moved to just behind the red line, where he would start a perfect dump and chase that helped deliver the goal. Josh Anderson forced a turnover, and then Danault set up Carrier, who shot it towards the net, hitting Alexandre Texier’s skate before it went in. The goal was not pretty, but through the hard work of winning a faceoff, it made for the Habs being able to score just 9 seconds after the Sabres, essentially cancelling out those two goals. If Danault doesn’t win his draw, there is virtually no way that goal happens, as they wouldn’t have gotten the puck into the zone, which forced the turnover.

Montreal goal!

Scored by Alexandre Texier with 12:06 remaining in the 1st period.

Assisted by Alexandre Carrier and Phillip Danault.

Buffalo: 2
Montreal: 2#MTLvsBUF #LetsGoBuffalo #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/G70kjV8no7

— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) May 14, 2026

Later on, the goal that tied the game 3-3 will be remembered for the perfect cross-ice pass by Lane Hutson to Anderson, who tapped the puck into the net. However, it was a Danault-won faceoff that got things started once again. It was a clean faceoff win that allowed Hutson time to dangle up the zone for the pass. It may not get noticed much, but those face-off wins are exactly what lead to important goals.

HUTSON FINDS ANDERSON AND WE’RE ALL TIED AGAIN! pic.twitter.com/5ywE5dvk3y

— Spittin’ Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) May 15, 2026

Finally, the last goal in Game 5 that came as a result of a faceoff was a power play goal by Nick Suzuki. His win off the draw allowed his teammate Juraj Slafkovsky to set him up for a goal just 10 seconds into the man advantage. Without that faceoff win by Suzuki, who knows if the Habs are able to get a setup as good as they did because of controlling the puck off the draw.

Nick Suzuki – Montreal Canadiens (4)*
Power Play Goal pic.twitter.com/0jph29FBlH

— NHL Goal Videos (@NHLGoalVideos) May 15, 2026

Just like that, half of the Habs’ goals started because of a simple faceoff win, and it happens that Danault is the one that won the faceoff on likely two of the biggest goals that they scored on the night. Although faceoffs are what makes Danault so valuable, it shows more in the playoffs than during the regular season, especially since he leads all players in faceoff percentage during the playoffs with a 61.9% success rate. Meanwhile, Jake Evans is the 2nd best at 59.5%, and Suzuki is 5th at 56.2%. As a result the Habs have 3 of the 5 best faceoff men in the playoffs, which has clearly helped them a lot. However, when they struggle in the faceoff dot, things don’t go well, like in Game 4 when the team won just 47.5% of their draws. 

Best faceoff percentage this postseason (min. 125 faceoffs):

61.9 — Phillip Danault
59.5 — Jake Evans
59.2 — Tim Washe
56.4 — Joel Eriksson Ek
56.2 — Nick Suzuki

Canadiens (56.1%) are 1st in the playoffs among teams still playing. pic.twitter.com/oOcz4uS7QB

— William Dubé (@williamdube_) May 15, 2026

Do you agree that dominating in the face-off dot has helped the Habs in the playoffs?