BUFFALO — Cole Caufield’s second goal of the game broke a tie in the third period, and the Montreal Canadiens ended a six-game skid with a 7-5 win against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Monday.

Caufield made it 6-5 when he scored on the power play at 12:58 on a one-timer at the far post for his League-leading 12th goal of the season.

Nick Suzuki had two goals and two assists, and Juraj Slafkovsky had three assists for the Canadiens (5-9-2), who were 0-5-1 during the skid. Cayden Primeau allowed five goals on 14 shots before he was replaced in the third by Sam Montembeault, who made four saves.

Dylan Cozens and Rasmus Dahlin each had a goal and an assist for the Sabres (7-8-1), who had won three in a row. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen gave up four goals on 18 shots before Devon Levi (two goals on four shots) replaced him to start the third.

Buffalo forward Tage Thompson and defenseman Mattias Samuelsson each left the game in the second period because of a lower-body injury.

Josh Anderson scored glove side on a breakaway to give Montreal a 1-0 lead at 4:14 of the first period.

Thompson tied it 1-1 just 28 seconds later at 4:42, cutting around Caufield in the left circle and driving to the net before slipping the puck five-hole on Primeau.

Caufield was on the doorstep for a power-play goal to put the Canadiens back in front 2-1 at 5:26 of the second, redirecting Lane Hutson’s shot from the blue line stick side.

Cozens tipped Dahlin’s point shot at the front of the net 19 seconds later to tie it 2-2 at 5:45.

Peyton Krebs then put the Sabres ahead 3-2 at 6:44 with a snap shot from the slot.

Suzuki scored off the rush from the right circle to tie it 3-3 at 19:13, then scored again just 22 seconds later when he took a pass from Slafkovsky in the right circle and beat Luukkonen far side at 19:35 to give Montreal a 4-3 lead.

Dahlin’s slap shot from above the right circle off the face-off on the power play tied it 4-4 at 1:58 of the third, and JJ Peterka hopped off the bench and slid a backhand stick side at 3:51 to give Buffalo a 5-4 lead.

Montembeault replaced Primeau after Peterka’s goal.

Emil Heineman tied it 5-5 with a wrist shot from the slot through traffic at 10:50.

Christian Dvorak scored an empty-net goal at 19:11 for the 7-5 final.