SABRES AT CANADIENS

Montreal will be looking to avenge an earlier loss to Buffalo when they meet Thursday at the Bell Centre (7:30 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio), writes Pat Hickey.

The matchup: This is the second meeting between these teams this season and the Canadiens will be looking to avenge a 4-3 loss in Buffalo on Oct. 25. The Canadiens are coming off a 5-3 loss to the Rangers Tuesday in New York that dropped their record to 8-5-2. Montreal hasn’t lost back-to-back games this season and they’re hoping to keep that streak alive as they face the Sabres. Both teams have been a surprise this season. After posting the worst record in the NHL last season, Buffalo is just behind Montreal with a 7-62 record. Newcomers providing offence: Off-season acquisitions Tomas Tatar and Max Domi supplied the offence against the Rangers Monday. While Tatar’s two goals were his first in 10 games, Domi has been one of the NHL’s hottest players during the past three weeks. His goal Tuesday was his ninth as a Canadien and that matches his total in each of his past two seasons in Arizona. Domi leads the team with 16 points in 15 games. He has collected at least one point in 11 of his past 12 games, notching nine goals and four assists in that span. Killer instinct: During the past week, the Canadiens’ penalty-killing unit has emerged as one of the NHL’s best. Montreal successfully killed six Rangers penalties Tuesday — New York did score one second after a power play ended — and Montreal has killed 13 consecutive penalties during the past three games. The Canadiens rank seventh in the NHL with a success rate of 83.3 per cent. Montreal still needs to be better on the power play. The Canadiens have scored a power-play goal in each of the past two games, but rank No. 26 in the league, with a 15.3-per-cent success rate. Fire away: The goaltenders — we’re expecting to see Carey Price line up against Linus Ullmark — can expect to see a lot of rubber. Both teams play an upbeat style and shoot lots of pucks. Montreal ranks seventh with 33.2 shots a game, while the Sabres are ninth (32.9). The Sabres have launched 48, 41 and 40 shots, respectively, in their last three games, but there’s one problem — they’re not scoring on enough of those shots and they’ve lost two of those three games. They had 40 shots against the New York Rangers on Sunday, but lost 3-1. Eichel leads the way: Jack Eichel, who was the consolation prize when the Oilers drafted Connor McDavid with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 entry draft, is the Sabres’ leading scorer with 17 points, including four goals. Jeff Skinner, who was acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes, is the top goal-scorer with nine and 16 points, while Repentigny native Jason Pominville has 14 points, including eight goals. If you’re hoping to see former Canadien Nathan Beaulieu on the Sabres’ blue line, you might be disappointed. Nate the Great has recovered from an early season injury, but hasn’t dressed since Oct. 30.