Sabres let win streak slip away in 3rd period stumble after injured Tage Thompson exits

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — The Montreal Canadiens scored goals barely two minutes apart on their first two shots against Sabres backup goaltender Devon Levi in the third period, and the last-place team in the Eastern Conference halted Buffalo's win streak with a 7-5 victory Monday in front of a split crowd at KeyBank Center.

Striving to win four in a row for the first time in two seasons, the Sabres got goals from Rasmus Dahlin and JJ Peterka less than two minutes apart to take a 5-4 lead early in the third period. Dylan Cozens and Peyton Krebs scored within a minute of the second period, and Tage Thompson buried his 11th goal early on before leaving late in the second with a lower-body injury.

Coach Lindy Ruff did not provide a postgame update on Thompson's injury. Defenseman Mattias Samuelsson also sustained a lower-body injury in his return to the lineup after being scratched during the Sabres' three-game win streak.

Levi made two saves in the third period after replacing Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who stopped 14 of 18 shots he faced. Luukkonen, who was named the NHL's third star of the week earlier on Monday, was battling "a little bit of an ailment," that developed in practice, Ruff said. Alex Tuch and Owen Power each had two assists, while Dahlin and Cozens assisted on each other's goals.

Cole Caufield scored twice for Montreal (5-9-2), giving him a league-leading 12 goals. Caufield's second was a power-play goal with 7:02 left put the Habs ahead to stay. Nick Suzuki scored twice in span of 22 seconds late in the second period after Buffalo had gone ahead 3-2. Juraj Slafkovsky had three assists as Montreal ended a six-game skid.

The loss drops the Sabres (7-8-1) back below .500 going into Thursday's home game against the St. Louis Blues.