Greg Stewart scored in the third period as the Montreal Canadiens posted a 3-2 comeback victory over Buffalo and handed the Sabres their first loss of the NHL preseason on Saturday night.
Stewart was posted in front to lift a Scott Gomez pass over Ryan Miller at 5:36 to give Montreal the lead in a game it trailed 2-0 after the first period.
Brian Gionta and Maxim Lapierre also scored for Montreal while Clarke MacArthur and Nathan Gerbe scored for the Sabres.
The Canadiens closed their preseason schedule at 4-2-1, while Buffalo (3-1-1) has one more game Sunday at Toronto.
The game was only 55 seconds old when Roman Hamrlik, who had yet to play in the preseason due to a flu, was caught flatfooted at the blueline by a Chris Butler pass that sent MacArthur in alone to deke Carey Price for a goal.
At 10:30, Gerbe was allowed to cruise in alone and beat Price with a high backhand shot.
Gionta got his fourth of the pre-season on a power play at 12:32 of the second frame as he was in the slot to finish a tic-tac-toe play with Tomas Plekanec and ex-Sabre Jaroslav Spacek.
Lapierre came out of the penalty box to pick up a puck at the blue-line and blast a shot under Ryan Miller's left arm to tie the game at 19:37.
Tom Pyatt, obtained with Scott Gomez in an off-season trade with the New York Rangers, left 2:53 into the game after he was hit from behind into the glass by Buffalo's Patrick Kaleta, sparking a fight with Ryan O'Byrne. Kaleta got a game misconduct, while O'Byrne took the instigating penalty.
Both teams used mainly NHL players, although Mike Cammalleri (lower body), Andrei Markov and Sergei Kostitsyn didn't play for Montreal and Jochen Hecht, Toni Lydman and Henrik Tallinder sat out for Buffalo.
Miller and Price went all the way in goal and both looked sharp.
The Canadiens leave Sunday for Caledon, Ont., for three days of practice and team bonding at a ranch. They start the season with five road games, beginning Thursday night in Toronto and Saturday night in Buffalo followed by games in Calgary, Vancouver and Edmonton. Their home opener is Oct. 15 against Colorado.