Sabres at Canadiens
Even a night when they honored a franchise icon was not enough to end the home woes of the Montreal Canadiens, who will miss the playoffs for a third straight season barring a miraculous finish. Coming off a third consecutive defeat, the sputtering Canadiens take aim at their first regulation home win in more than a month against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night.
Montreal honored the late Henri Richard on Tuesday before turning in another listless performance in a 4-2 loss to Nashville to drop 10 points out of both the second wild card and third place in the Atlantic Division. The Canadiens surrendered four goals in just over 15 minutes in what coach Claude Julien termed a "catastrophic" second period Tuesday that sent the team to its 23rd loss in 37 games (14-17-6) at Bell Centre. The Sabres are only three points behind Montreal for fifth place in the division after snapping a six-game losing streak with a 3-2 shootout win over Washington on Monday. "I thought we showed a lot of character," coach Ralph Krueger said. "It's been tough slugging here of late. We're not getting anything for free."
TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: MSG-Buffalo, RDS, TSN2
ABOUT THE SABRES (30-31-8): Captain Jack Eichel halted a seven-game point drought -- his longest since entering the league -- with his career best 36th goal, but Buffalo is getting solid production from the No. 2 line of Victor Olofsson, Marcus Johansson and Dominik Kahun. Olofsson became the team's first rookie with 20 goals since Eichel and Sam Reinhart (2015-16) on an assist from Johansson while Kahun delivered the decisive tally in the shootout. "We've created a lot of chances and scored a couple goals. So hopefully we can keep that going," Johansson said.
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (31-31-9): Montreal has been outscored 12-3 in during a three-game slide that coincided with an injury to leading scorer Tomas Tatar, so the hope is for a return to the lineup for Jonathan Drouin, who is seeking to play Thursday for the first time since Feb. 25. Backup netminder Charlie Lindgren may be unavailable after taking a shot high off the chest during Wednesday's practice and exiting in obvious pain. Lindgren, who has started two of the past five games, was being evaluated by the team's medical staff, according to Julien.
OVERTIME
1. Eichel has three goals and five points in two matchups versus Montreal this season.
2. The Canadiens are 0-for-18 on the power play over the past nine games.
3. Johansson had points in three straight and five of six games for Buffalo, which has been limited to two goals or fewer in eight consecutive contests.