At The Final Horn | Sabres pick up victory on opening night

Alternate captains Kyle Okposo and Zemgus Girgensons led the way for the Buffalo Sabres in their 5-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday on opening night at KeyBank Center.
The forwards opened the scoring for the team in the first period. Victor Olofsson and Anders Bjork scored in the second and Tage Thompson added another in the third.
Craig Anderson made 30 saves in his Sabres debut.
Buffalo's power play finished 3-for-6 and the penalty kill was a perfect 4-for-4.
Chris Wideman scored for Montreal while Sam Montembeault stopped 31 shots in his first game of the season.

How it happened

Okposo opened the scoring 6:40 into the game with a short-side shot from the top of the right faceoff circle on the power play.
Then with 2:25 remaining, Girgensons deflected in a point shot by Colin Miller to put the team up 2-0.
The Sabres got into penalty trouble early in the second period. Girgensons, Miller and Robert Hagg were instrumental in killing off a 26-second Montreal 5-on-3. Hagg in particular came up with two big blocked shots. Buffalo was successful in killing off both penalties.
Wideman scored for Montreal to make it 2-1 midway through the second period, but Buff
Buffalo responded with a power-play goal from Olofsson, who wristed in a shot through a screen with 2:55 remaining in the middle period.
Bjork made it 4-1 when he punched in a loose puck from in tight with 55.6 seconds left in the second.
Thompson scored Buffalo's third power-play goal of the game with his tally 4:29 into the third.

Roll the highlight film

Here's Okposo's goal that got things started:

Worthy of a mention

• With his sixth save of the game, Anderson recorded the 20,000th save of his NHL career.
• Before the game, the Sabres paid tribute to the life of Rene Robert. The French Connection winger passed away in June at the age of 72.

Robert had his number retired by the team in 1996. His No. 14 was painted onto the ice behind the nets and will remain there for the team's first 14 regular-season games.
• Rick Jeanneret kicked off his final season in style. The legendary play-by-play announcer will call 20 games this season.

He was featured in the opening video and then introduced the team.

RJ is also the star of a new commercial, proving he can do his job anywhere.
• Casey Mittelstadt left the game with 9:53 remaining in the second- period with an upper-body injury and did not return.

Coming up

The season-opening four game homestand continues Saturday afternoon with a game against the Arizona Coyotes. Faceoff is set for 1 p.m. with pregame coverage on MSG starting at 12:30.
Tickets for the game are on sale now.
The first afternoon game of the season also comes with a special ticket offer for families. With the purchase of one regular-priced adult ticket, fans can purchase up to four kids tickets for just $15 each. Click here for more details.
The first 5,000 kids in attendance will receive Halloween trick-or-treat totes. All fans will receive a commemorative magnet schedule.
Harvest Fest will begin at 11 a.m. in Alumni Plaza with music, food and beverage, craft beer from Southern Tier, and fall-themed activities including:
• Create Your Own GIF Station
• Fan activations and giveaways from Sabres partners
• Petting Zoo
• Pumpkin Carving Demonstration
• 'Pumpkin Alley' games for kids and more!