Montreal Canadiens (28-26-5) at Buffalo Sabres (24-28-5)
Puck Drop: 7:00 PM EST | KeyBank Center | Buffalo, NY
TV: MSG-B
Radio: WGR 550
Know Your Opponent
Montreal Canadiens
Record: 28-26-5 | 61 PTS
Last Game: 4-3 OT Win vs. San Jose Sharks
Division Ranking: 7th in Atlantic Division
PP: 21.4% (T-16th), (Sabres: 17%, 27th)
PK: 81.8% (T6th), (Sabres: 77.2%, 20th)
What to Watch
1. Riding High
Spring forward, Sabres. Does this sound familiar? The last few seasons, the team tends to show signs of life after an abysmal first few months of any given season. Now that spring is on the horizon, Buffalo is, of course, winning. Though still bleak and nearly impossible, the playoff chatter has begun again. The Sabres have won six of their last eight and several players have certainly gone the extra mile during that span (more on that later). If they win tonight, Buffalo will celebrate their seventh home victory in a row and the first streak with that many wins since 1999.
Another team riding a bit of a high is Montreal. They are currently on a three-game win streak after Nick Suzuki’s two-goal effort against the Sharks on Thursday night and are 10-6-0 against divisional teams this season.
2. March Madness
On the Sabres’ schedule, there are 16 games for the month of March – this averages about one game every other day and tonight’s matchup against Montreal marks the first of five games in seven days. Coinciding with plenty of ice time will be ample travel time as well. Buffalo will be on the road quite a bit during this stretch, so it will be interesting to see how the team and coaching staff balance this extra challenge.
3. Top Performers
No surprise here: Tage Thompson has been dominating the offense with 28 goals and 23 assists so far this season. He leads the team in points with 11 during Buffalo’s most recent home victory streak and, in seven games against Montreal alone, he has earned 10 points. Alex Tuch has been a noticeable difference-maker as of late, too, with his own offensive contributions. He has tallied five goals in his last five games and now has 21 on the season. Another unsurprising top performer: Rasmus Dahlin, who has been having a time in has last 23 games with 24 assists – tied for third in the NHL among not just defensemen, but all players during that span. It seems pretty likely that one or more of these players will earn at least a point tonight.
Projected Lineups
Buffalo Sabres
Forwards*
JJ Peterka – Ryan McLeod – Tage Thompson
Jordan Greenway – Dylan Cozens – Alex Tuch
Zach Benson – Jiri Kulich – Jack Quinn
Beck Malenstyn – Peyton Krebs – Sam Lafferty
*Jason Zucker is day-to-day with a lower body injury.
Defense
Rasmus Dahlin – Bowen Byram
Owen Power – Mattias Samuelsson
Jacob Bryson – Connor Clifton
Goaltenders: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (expected), James Reimer
Montreal Canadiens
Forwards
Cole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Juraj Slafkovsky
Alex Newhook – Owen Beck – Patrik Laine
Josh Anderson – Christian Dvorak – Brendan Gallagher
Emil Heinemen – Jake Evans – Joel Armia
Defense
Lane Hutson – Jayden Struble
Mike Matheson – Alexandre Carrier
Arber Xhekaj – David Savard
Goaltenders: Sam Montembeault (expected), Jakub Dobes