Sabres 4, Canadiens 2
MONTREAL -- Left winger Johan Larsson scored the game-winning goal to lift the Buffalo Sabres to a 4-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night at the Bell Centre.
Left wingers Marcus Foligno and Jamie McGinn and right winger Brian Gionta also scored for the Sabres.
Right winger Dale Weise and left winger Alex Galchenyuk scored for Montreal.
Goaltender Robin Lehner made 32 saves for Buffalo (21-26-4). Counterpart Mike Condon stopped 28 shots for the Canadiens (24-24-4).
The Canadiens got off to a good start, outshooting the Sabres 6-0 through the first five minutes. But it was Buffalo who hit the scoresheet first at 5:10. Zemgus Girgensons picked up defenseman Cody Franson's light dump-in to the Montreal zone along the left side before sending a pass from the corner to an uncovered Foligno in the low slot.
Montreal's power play connected for the fourth straight game to tie it up at 3:19 of the second period. Defenseman P.K. Subban waited for an opening before saucering a cross-ice feed to left winger Max Pacioretty in the right circle. Pacioretty directed his shot at the net, with Weise standing at the opposite side for the deflection.
Galchenyuk showed off his skill to put the Canadiens up 2-1 at 11:04. After center Tomas Plekanec won the faceoff, Galchenyuk skated around the top of the circle before deking out center Ryan O'Reilly at the bottom and lifting a backhander past Lehner.
The Sabres came close to tying it shortly thereafter on an Evander Kane breakaway attempt but Condon denied the winger with his blocker.
McGinn brought the game back to square one at 7:34 of the third period. Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen sent a Jack Eichel feed towards the net, where McGinn was waiting in the slot for the tip-in, blocker side.
Larsson gave the Sabres the lead at 11:46 when he tipped in Jake McCabe's goal line shot while crashing the net.
Gionta capped off the scoring into an empty net.
NOTES: Montreal made two changes to its lineup. The Canadiens inserted RW Sven Andrighetto in place of LW Lucas Lessio, who was injured Tuesday against the Flyers, and D Alexei Emelin was back in after sitting as a healthy scratch, replacing D Mark Barberio. The Canadiens also scratched D Greg Pateryn. ... C Sam Reinhart, LW Nicolas Deslauriers and D Josh Gorges all returned for Buffalo after missing three, 11 and three games, respectively. ... The Sabres scratched D Mike Weber and D Carlo Colaiacovo. ... The two teams met on Feb. 3 for a second consecutive year. ... Only seven current Sabres players were on Buffalo's roster in last year's game on this date.