Buffalo Sabres At Montreal Canadiens - Lineups, Injury Updates, And Game Notes

Game 9 - 10/17/26 - 7:00 pm at Centre Bell in Montreal, Quebec

Buffalo – 4-3-1 | - 9 points – 5th place in the Atlantic Division

Montreal – 3-3-1 | - 7 points – 7th place in the Atlantic Division

Special Teams

Buffalo

Power Play – 10.3% (30th)

Penalty Kill – 61.5% (29th)

Montreal

Power Play – 13.6% (27th)

Penalty Kill - 80.0% (17th)

Top Scorers

Buffalo

Tage Thompson: 8 GP, 4 G, 4 A, 8 PTS

Jack Quinn: 8 GP, 4 G, 4 A, 8 PTS

Owen Power: 8 GP, 2 G, 6 A, 8 PT

Montreal

Nick Suzuki: 7 GP, 4 G, 5 A, 9 PTS

Lane Hutson: 7 GP, 2 G, 6 A, 8 PTS

Josh Anderson: 7 GP, 4 G, 2 A, 6 PTS

Starting Goalies

Buffalo –  Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (3-2-1, 3.52 GAA, .854 Sv %)

Montreal  – Jacob Fowler (2-1-0, 1.91 GAA, .906 Sv %)

Other Sabres Stories

Mrtka Looking To Take The Next Step Towards The NHL 

Sabres Line Combinations and Pairings 

Forwards

Peyton Krebs - Tage Thompson - Josh Doan

Zach Benson - Noah Ostlund - Jack Quinn 

Jiri Kulich - Josh Norris - Konsta Helenius

Ryan McLeod -  Justin Danforth - Beck Malenstyn

Ex. Sam Carrick

Defense

Mattias Samuelsson - Zach Metsa 

Olen Zellweger - Owen Power  

Dennis Gilbert - Louis Crevier 

Goaltenders

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

Colten Ellis

Notes

The Sabres have earned more wins against the Canadiens (138) than any other opponent in franchise history.

Owen Power has posted eight points (2+6) in Buffalo’s first eight games. A point in tonight’s game would make him the first Sabres defenseman since Rasmus Dahlin (Oct. 12 to 29, 2023; 2+7) to record nine or more points in their first nine games of a season. Power (26:38) ranks fourth in time on ice per game among all NHL skaters.

Zach Benson has notched an assist in three consecutive games and he would earn the longest assist streak of his career with an assist in tonight’s game.

Mattias Samuelsson has registered two points in each of his last two games (1+3). With a multi-point performance tonight, Samuelsson would become the third Sabres defenseman since 1996 to record a multi-point streak of at least three games (Dahlin, Andrej Sekera).

Dennis Gilbert has posted one point in back-to-back games and a point tonight would give him the longest point streak of his career.

Olen Zellweger has registered three points (2+1) in his last three games.

Tage Thompson has 217 goals with Buffalo in his career and he needs one goal to pass Jason Pominville (217) to move into sole possession of 10th place on Buffalo’s all-time goal scoring list. Thompson has registered four points (2+2) in his last four games. Thompson has registered 23 points (12+11) in 21 career games against Montreal, including seven points (3+4) in his last four games against the Canadiens.

Josh Norris has totaled nine points (4+6) in his last nine games against the Canadiens

Injuries

Tyson Kozak (day-to-day - upper body)

Rasmus Dahlin (day-to-day - upper body)

Matt Grzelcyk (lower body; injured reserve)

Alex Lyon (upper body; injured reserve)  

Conor Timmins (lower body; injured reserve) 

Jason Zucker (sports hernia; injured reserve) 

Topias Leinonen (lower body; injured reserve) 

Jack Rathbone (lower body; injured reserve) 

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