Skinner gets 4 points, Sabres cruise past Canadiens

MONTREAL -- Jeff Skinner had a goal and three assists for the Buffalo Sabres in a 6-1 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Thursday.

Devon Levi made 32 saves, and Tage Thompson had two goals and an assist for Buffalo (16-19-4), which was 2-for-4 on the power play. Casey Mittelstadt, Jack Quinn and Rasmus Dahlin each had a goal and an assist. Alex Tuch had two assists.

“I think tonight, the power play obviously got off to a good start there in the second period, and then I thought our line played well,” Skinner said. “When your line plays well, the individuals are going to have success, so it’s nice to contribute to the win.”

Levi, who is from the suburb of Dollard-des-Ormeaux, was named First Star of the game in his first NHL game in Montreal.

“It was a very special game, having a lot of people in the stands, being back home, playing against that team,” Levi said. “I give credit to the boys, they played a great game. They locked it down and we limited their chances and we put the puck in the back of the net. The power play was unreal today, so just a really good team effort.”

Joel Armia scored, and Jake Allen made 32 saves for Montreal (16-17-5), which has lost four of five (1-4-0).

“It was breakdowns by us on the PK and we didn’t really have our game tonight,” Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki said. “It was close in the third, but we didn’t play good enough to win.”

Mittelstadt gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 5:33 of the second period. He put in a cross-crease pass from Skinner at the left post.

Skinner made it 2-0 on the power play at 6:59 with a snap shot from below the right circle off Tuch’s cross-crease pass.

Armia cut it to 2-1 with a short-handed goal at 13:19. He won the puck from Dahlin in the offensive zone and beat Levi with a wrist shot from the left circle.

Quinn put the Sabres ahead 3-1 at 6:45 of the third period with a wrist shot over Allen’s right shoulder from the high slot.

Thompson pushed it to 4-1 at 8:35 when he got his stick on the puck to finish off Skinner’s backhand around Allen’s left pad.

“I had to kind of pull it around the goalie and it was slipping off my back end a little bit, so it was nice that he was there to make sure, obviously,” Skinner said.

Dahlin made it 5-1 at 14:31, shooting into an empty net from his own goal line with Allen on the bench for an extra attacker.

Thompson scored for the 6-1 final at 18:32 on a 2-on-1 rush with Skinner.

“They have a lot of talent up front, so you have to be wary of those guys and limit their opportunities when you can,” Canadiens defenseman Jordan Harris said.

NOTES: Dahlin and Suzuki were each named to the 2024 NHL All-Star Game on Thursday. ... Skinner has 46 points (26 goals, 20 assists) in 41 games against Montreal for Buffalo and the Carolina Hurricanes. He is tied with Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews (26 goals in 32 games) for the second-most goals against the Canadiens by an active player; Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals has 37 in 56 games against Montreal. … Armia appeared to score at 2:06 of the second period, but the goal was disallowed after Buffalo successfully challenged that Michael Pezzetta interfered with Levi.