Montreal Canadiens' Zachary Bolduc (76) is cuffed by Buffalo Sabres' Rasmus Dahlin (26) as Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (1), Noah Ostlund (86) and Mattias Samuelsson (23) look on during Thursday’s game in Montreal. AP photo

MONTREAL (AP) — Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 32 saves, Jason Zucker, Beck Malenstyn and Zach Benson gave Buffalo an early lead and the Sabres beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 on Thursday night for their 17th victory in 21 games.

Peyton Krebs added an empty-netter in the third. The Sabres improved to 28-17-5, beating Montreal for the second time in eight days.

Cole Caufield scored for the fourth straight game for Montreal, and Nick Suzuki also connected, The Canadiens dropped to 28-16-7. They had won two in a row.

Samuel Montembeault stopped 13 shots in his first regulation loss since being called up from a conditioning assignment with Laval of the AHL on Dec. 27.

Buffalo is two points behind Montreal for third place in the Atlantic Division.

Up next

Sabres: At the New York Islanders on Saturday.

Canadiens: At Boston on Saturday night.