MTL@BUF: What you need to know

BUFFALO - The Canadiens (3-4-0) are beginning their four-game road trip with a stop in Buffalo to take on their divisional rivals, the Sabres (4-2-0), on Thursday.

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Here's what you need to know heading into the game:
1. Montreal is looking for a reversal of fortunes after losing two games in a row. On Tuesday, the Habs lost 3-1 to the visiting Minnesota Wild at the Bell Centre. Cole Caufield scored the only goal for the home side - his fifth of the season - while Jake Allen made 28 saves in his fifth game of 2022-23.

2. The Canadiens practiced at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard before departing for Buffalo on Wednesday, although Josh Anderson and Chris Wideman took maintenance days instead. For their part, Joel Armia and Joel Edmundson were on the ice with their teammates, but they were still wearing no-contact jerseys. The pair did join the group for the four-game road swing, which will also take the team to St. Louis, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Winnipeg. Juraj Slafkovsky, who's missed the past two games with an upper-body injury, was back on the ice with the Habs on Wednesday as well. We'll have to wait until Thursday's morning skate to see about any lineup changes against the Sabres.

3. At the other end of the rink, the Sabres are off to a decent start to the season, although they were defeated 5-1 by the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday out West. Dylan Cozens was the only goal-scorer for the Sabres in that one, netting his second of the campaign. The Kraken game was Buffalo's only loss of its four-game road trip, with the Sabres scoring four, six, and five goals in the first three contests of the trip in Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver, respectively. Defenseman Rasmus Dahlin has taken an early lead on the team with nine points (5G, 4A) in six games, while Alex Tuch is tops on the Sabres with six goals.
4. This is the first of three meetings between the two teams this season. The Sabres will visit the Bell Centre in late November, while the Habs return to Upstate New York at the end of March to close out the season series. Last year, Buffalo won three of the four Habs-Sabres contests on the schedule.
5. Game time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET. You can catch all the action on TSN2 and RDS on television, or on TSN 690 or 98,5 fm on the radio.