BUF@MTL: What you need to know

MONTREAL – The Canadiens (16-6-5) have returned from their December travels and are set to face the Buffalo Sabres (15-19-4) in their first home game of the calendar year on Thursday. 

Here’s what you need to know heading into the game: 

1. The Canadiens won their first road game of 2024 two nights ago, beating the Dallas Stars 4-3 at American Airlines Arena on Tuesday. Nick Suzuki, Kaiden Guhle, Jordan Harris, and Cole Caufield scored for Montreal, with both Suzuki and Harris enjoying two-point nights. Harris’ tally, an unassisted goal scored in the second period to put the Habs up 3-1, was his first of 2023-24. Samuel Montembeault turned aside 30 of 33 shots for his eighth win of the campaign.

2. Montreal has been doing without the services of forward Christian Dvorak for the past two games. The team first announced that he had an upper-body injury prior to the New Year’s Eve game in Tampa, and he hasn’t played since. Head coach Martin St-Louis iced the same lineup in each of the past two games. The Canadiens did not practice on Wednesday, so we’ll have to wait until Thursday’s morning skate for any injury or lineup updates from the Montreal bench boss.

3. The Canadiens put up a .500 record during their notoriously challenging December travels, with a 3-3-1 record in seven road games from December 18-January 2. They picked up at least a point in each of their first three pre-Christmas games, winning two, and then dropped the first three after the holiday before wrapping up their trip with a victory in Texas. The captain, Suzuki, led the way during the voyages with four goals and nine points. Mike Matheson, who is now one point away from the 200th of his career, was next on the team with seven points (1G, 6A), followed by Juraj Slafkovsky and Cole Caufield with six apiece.

4. For their part, the Sabres have been off since losing 5-1 to the Senators in Ottawa on New Year’s Eve. The loss capped off a month of ups and downs for Buffalo which posted a 5-8-2 record in 15 games in December. The Sabres are three points behind the Canadiens in the Northeast Division with 34 points, but Montreal holds a game in hand.

This is the third of four meetings between the two teams; the Habs have won the first two. The final showdown takes place on February 21 back in Montreal.

Casey Mittelstadt is the team leader in points with 31, followed by Rasmus Dahlin (29) and Jeff Skinner (27). Skinner is also Buffalo’s top goal-scorer with 15. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Devon Levi have been splitting goaltending duties this season.

5. Game time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET at the Bell Centre. You can watch all the action on TSN2 or RDS on television, or listen in on TSN 690 or 98,5 fm on the radio. For tickets, click here.