Buffalo Sabres - Montreal Canadiens Game Preview
10/20/25 - 7:30pm at Bell Centre, in Montreal, Quebec
Buffalo – 2-3-0 | - 4 points – 6th place in the Atlantic Division
Montreal – 4-2-0 | - 8 points – 2nd place in the Atlantic Division
Special Teams
Buffalo
Power Play – 27.8% (T-6th)
Penalty Kill – 95.7% (1st)
Montreal
Power Play – 18.2% (T-17th)
Penalty Kill - 72.2% (T-24th)
Top Scorers
Buffalo
Josh Doan: 5 GP, 2 G, 3 A, 5 PTS
Zach Benson: 2 GP, 0 G, 5 A, 5 PTS
Jason Zucker: 5 GP, 3 G, 1 A, 4 PTS
Montreal
Cole Caufield: 6 GP, 5 G, 3 A, 8 PTS
Nick Suzuki: 6 GP, 1 G, 7 A, 8 PTS
Brendan Gallagher: 6 GP, 0 G, 5 A, 5 PTS
Starting Goalies
Buffalo – Alex Lyon (2-3-0, 2.43 GAA, .929 save %)
Montreal – Jakub Dobes (2-0-0, 1.46 GAA, .940 save %)
Other Sabres Stories
Projecting Sabres Trade Cost - Lawson Crouse
Six Former Sabres Who Signed Elsewhere
Sabres Line Combinations and Pairings (per Paul Hamilton of WGR Radio)
Forwards
Zach Benson - Jiri Kulich - Tage Thompson
Josh Doan - Ryan McLeod - Alex Tuch
Jason Zucker - Peyton Krebs - Jack Quinn
Josh Dunne - Tyson Kozak - Noah Ostlund
Ex. Mason Geersten
Defense
Bowen Byram - Rasmus Dahlin
Owen Power - Conor Timmins,
Mattias Samuelsson - Zach Metsa
Ex. Zac Jones
Goaltenders
Alex Lyon
Colten Ellis
Injuries
Jordan Greenway (IR – mid body)
Michael Kesselring (IR - undisclosed)
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (IR - lower body)
Josh Norris (IR - upper body)
Jacob Bryson (day-to-day - concussion)
Beck Malenstyn (day-to-day - personal)
Notes
The Sabres have earned at least one point in four of their last five games in Montreal (3-1-1).
Zach Benson has registered five assists in his first two games of the season, tied for the most by a Sabres skater in their first two games of a season in franchise history (Pat LaFontaine; 1992-93). If he records an assist tonight, he would join Jack Eichel (six assists in 2021-22) and Thomas Vanek (six assists in 2013-14) as the only players in franchise history to record six or more assists in their first three games of a season.
In his last two games, Josh Doan has posted five points (2+3), including at least two points in each.
Alex Tuch has recorded at least one point in three consecutive games, including at least one assist in each of the games in that span (1+3).
Rasmus Dahlin is riding a three-game assist streak and he has tallied four assists in that span.
Peyton Krebs has notched one assist in back-to-back games and with an assist in tonight’s game he would match the longest assist streak of his career (March 25 to 29, 2025; three games).
Tage Thompson has collected at least one point in each of his last three games (1+3).
Owen Power has registered one point in each of his last two contests (1+1).
In his last two games, Jason Zucker has posted three points (2+1), including at least one point in each of those games.
Jack Quinn needs one point to reach 100 points in his NHL career. Buffalo ranks first among all NHL teams in penalty-kill percentage (95.7) and tied for first in power-play goals allowed (one).
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