Thompson and Samuelsson sustained injuries in the back-and-forth loss to the Canadiens

The Sabers played shorthanded for more than half of the game and lost a back-and-forth contest to end their three-game winning streak. There were six lead changes in the game, including two with the Sabers leading by one goal each in the second and third periods.

Buffalo led 3-2 with less than a minute to play in the second period before two goals from Nick Suzuki gave Montreal the lead. Suzuki's first goal, scored after 46.9 seconds, was the result of an odd rush. The next goal came 22 seconds later when Juraj Slafkovsky won a battle for a loose puck from deep and Suzuki had space to shoot in front of Luukkonen.

“The last two that ended the second period were obvious [are] brutal,” said Sabers assistant captain Alex Tuch. “If you have a lead with a minute to go before the end of the period, you can’t let that happen. Yes, it’s just bad discipline.”

Ruff encouraged the Sabers to persevere in the second intermission and assured his players that they had the opportunity to get back into the game. This chance quickly arose in the form of a power play goal from Rasmus Dahlin, which equalized the score at 4-4 just 1:58 into the third period. JJ Peterka got behind the Montreal defense and hit a five-hole shot less than two minutes later to put the Sabers back in the lead.

Again the Canadiens responded with two goals of their own, scored in quick succession. Emil Heineman scored on a shot through traffic to tie the game at 5-5 with 7:02 left. Just 25 seconds later, Dahlin was called for an elbow bump as he prepared for an expected hit from Canadiens forward Jake Evans along the wall. It was the Sabers' sixth minor penalty of the night.

“Way too many (penalties),” Dahlin said. “Especially my penalty. I take full responsibility. This can’t happen.”

Cole Caufield scored the winning goal 17 seconds before the end of the decisive power play. Slafkovsky received a carom shot from the end boards to the right of the net and quickly shot through the blue paint to set up the goal, earning his third assist of the night.

Christian Dvorak added an unanswered goal in the final minute to stave off the Sabres' comeback attempt.

“I think we’ll really learn from this,” Dahlin said. “We have humbled ourselves today. I think we were very excited about our previous games and I don't know. But we know that it's hard to win in this league if you don't give 100 percent performance. So we will work hard on further development.”