Montreal plays Buffalo, aims for 4th straight victory

Buffalo Sabres (16-27-8, seventh in the Atlantic) vs. Montreal Canadiens (11-33-7, eighth in the Atlantic)

Montreal; Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Montreal comes into a matchup against Buffalo as winners of three consecutive games.

The Canadiens are 6-20-2 in Eastern Conference games. Montreal serves 10.6 penalty minutes per game, the most in the Eastern Conference. Michael Pezzetta leads the team serving 68 total minutes.

The Sabres are 5-8-4 in division play. Buffalo has given up 32 power-play goals, killing 76.8% of opponent chances.

In their last meeting on Feb. 13, Buffalo won 5-3. Jeff Skinner recorded four goals for the Sabres.

TOP PERFORMERS: Nicholas Suzuki leads the Canadiens with 30 points, scoring nine goals and adding 21 assists. Jeff Petry has four assists over the last 10 games for Montreal.

Tage Thompson leads the Sabres with 20 goals and has 38 points. Alex Tuch has seven assists over the last 10 games for Buffalo.

LAST 10 GAMES: Canadiens: 3-7-0, averaging 2.6 goals, 4.5 assists, 3.4 penalties and 8.1 penalty minutes while giving up 4.1 goals per game with an .867 save percentage.

Sabres: 3-6-1, averaging 2.7 goals, 4.3 assists, 3.5 penalties and 9.2 penalty minutes while allowing 3.6 goals per game with an .895 save percentage.

INJURIES: Canadiens: Corey Schueneman: out (covid-19), Christian Dvorak: out (upper body), Joel Armia: day to day (undisclosed), Rafael Harvey-Pinard: out (health protocols), Louie Belpedio: out (covid-19), Gianni Fairbrother: out (covid-19), David Savard: out (ankle).

Sabres: Zemgus Girgensons: out (undisclosed), Jack Quinn: out (lower body), Rasmus Dahlin: day to day (lower-body).

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