Tage Thompson’s 3-goal, 5-point outing leads Buffalo Sabres to 5-3 win over Montreal Canadiens

Buffalo Sabres center Tage Thompson, right, celebrates his goal with defenseman Rasmus Dahlin (26) during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Montreal Canadiens, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Tage Thompson scored three times, including the 200th of his career, and added two assists in the Buffalo Sabres’ 5-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night.

Josh Doan had a goal and assist, and Alex Tuch also scored as the surging Sabres improved to 15-2 in their past 17. Colten Ellis stopped 20 shots.

At 26-16-4, Buffalo’s win total and 56 points are the most through 47 games since the team went 30-11-6 over the same span in 2009-10.

Montreal’s Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki had a goal and assist each, and Ivan Demidov also scored. Rookie Jacob Fowler finished with 22 saves.

The Canadiens were coming off a 3-2 overtime loss at Washington on Tuesday, and had gone 8-2-4 since last dropping consecutive outings.

After trading leads through two periods, Thompson scored the go-ahead goal 5:12 into the third. Peyton Krebs kept the puck inside the Montreal zone, with Doan tracking it down in the right circle. He fed a pass to Thompson who snapped a shot inside the left post.

Thompson capped his ninth career hat trick with an empty-net goal.

The Sabres have won 10 of 12 home games. And they snapped an 0-4-2 home skid against Montreal dating to Buffalo’s 4-1 win on Nov. 26, 2022.

The Sabres celebrated the 20th anniversary of their 2005-06 team that reached the Eastern Conference finals, before losing Game 7 to eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina. Among the alumni on hand were goalie Ryan Miller, forwards Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville and defenseman Jay McKee.

Miller surprised Vanek and Pominville by announcing they were to be inducted in the Sabres Hall of Fame.

Flyers general manager Danny Briere, who co-captained that group, addressed fans in a taped message played over the video scoreboard.

Up next

Canadiens: Close three-game road swing at Ottawa on Saturday.

Sabres: Close five-game homestand hosting Minnesota on Saturday.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

John Wawrow, The Associated Press