Sabres still searching for consistency, visit Canadiens

It's been a bumpy road for the Buffalo Sabres this season, but they look to start 2024 off on the right foot on Thursday when they visit the Montreal Canadiens.

Buffalo has struggled to string wins together, having won consecutive games only once through 38 contests, doing so back on Oct. 29-Nov. 1.

The Sabres' 19 regulation losses are among the most in the NHL, but Buffalo has managed to avoid lengthy losing streaks. Only once has it dropped four in a row.

If the Sabres hope to stay in the playoff mix, they'll need to not only get on the path, but stay there consistently.

"Obviously our numbers are terrible when we win and we don't bring it into the next night to the level we need to," Buffalo coach Don Granato said. "With the number of repetitions of this, we're in a phase and we're trying to shorten that and push out of that. ... We need to get better and resolve this."

Slow starts haven't helped the Sabres, who have allowed a league-high 51 goals in the first period, including multiple instances of falling behind by at least two goals. It happened again in their last outing, a 5-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Sunday.

"The difference in a lot of these games, I think if we had a little bit of swagger and a little bit less fear and hesitation, which looks like you're not working, you don't care," Granato said. "I know that's not the case, that they don't care. ... I watched some games of ours from last year. (We'd) make mistakes, didn't bother us.

"This year, you make that mistake, it bothers the hell out of us. It consumes us and it frustrates us. ... That's a little bit of swagger that we're missing big time, and that's affected us quite a bit this year."

While the team has had its struggles, Casey Mittelstadt is quietly on pace for another career season. The center leads Buffalo with 31 points (10 goals, 21 assists). He's five goals off his career high set in 2022-23 and is on pace for 66 points, seven more than last season's total.

Montreal, meanwhile, returns home having salvaged a seven-game road trip with a 4-3 win against the Dallas Stars on Tuesday, snapping a three-game losing streak. The victory keeps it in the large mix of teams hoping to climb into a playoff spot.

"It was a big win for us," Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki said. "They're a good team and it's good to go home with a win."

Now that they return home, the Canadiens will be looking to improve on their results as the hosts. Montreal is 7-9-2 at home but has struggled as of late, going 2-6-2 in its past 10.

The top line of Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky has started to jell. Suzuki has 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in his past nine games, Caufield has tallied markers in three straight and Slafkovsky has six points (two goals, four assists) in his past seven outings.

The Canadiens have won each of the two previous meetings with the Sabres this season, both in Buffalo.

—Field Level Media