BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Luck was on the Montreal Canadiens' side on Wednesday night.

Paul Byron scored 3:15 into overtime to lead the Canadiens to a 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres. Two of Montreal's goals -- including the game-winner -- came off fortunate bounces from their opponents.

"That's kind of the luck of the game," Byron said. "Good things happen when you put pucks on net and we had bodies going to the net."

The game-winner came off a 2-on-1 rush in the Buffalo zone. Byron's pass to Torrey Mitchell deflected off Sabres defenseman Zach Bogosian's stick into the Sabres net to give Montreal the victory.

"I saw his stick. He's a fast guy," Byron said. "I thought their defenseman came over for a 2-on-1 and I tried to hit him back door for an open net."

Andrei Markov and Greg Pateryn also scored for the Canadiens (33-33-6). Ben Scrivens made 40 saves.

The game was a chippy affair that featured plenty of altercations after the whistle. The teams combined for a total of 100 penalty minutes and each team had three 10-minute misconducts.

"We played last night and we were not pleased with our performance," Montreal coach Michel Therrien said. "Guys bounced back and showed a lot of their character and it was an emotional game from both teams and I'm glad for the guys that got rewarded. Big win."

Bogosian and Marcus Foligno scored for the Sabres (28-33-10), who outshot Montreal 43-22 but lost their composure at key times. Robin Lehner made 19 saves.

"We certainly let the game get away from us with our composure level," Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said. "No question it's the difference in the game."

Bogosian opened the scoring with 4:43 remaining in the first period by swatting his own rebound into the Montreal net. After a shot from the right circle was stopped by Scrivens' glove, Bogosian knocked the puck out of the air and into the net for his fifth goal of the season.

Officials found video review inconclusive after looking to see if the goal came from a high stick.

"I felt pretty confident that it was chest level," Bogosian said. "When the puck's up like that, you hope to hit it and fortunately I did."

Pateryn evened the score 1:09 into the second period on his first career goal. Alex Galchenyuk found Pateryn behind the right circle and the defenseman scored on a hard slap shot.

Following a lengthy scrum in the Buffalo end -- which escalated after Montreal right winger Michael McCarron yanked Lehner's goalie mask -- the Canadiens took a 2-1 lead with 2.7 seconds remaining in the second.

The Sabres were given two roughing penalties (to Bogosian and Lehner) to Montreal's one (McCarron), which gave Montreal a 5-on-4 advantage. Markov's shot from the right point ricocheted off the stick of Sabres captain Brian Gionta and into the Sabres net for a power-play goal.

"I'm not sure I would necessarily agree with the call and how the penalties were dispersed but we give the referee an opportunity to make a call with Robin getting involved," Bylsma said.

Foligno made it 2-2 with a short-handed goal with 8:04 remaining in the third. David Legwand set up Foligno with a stretch pass for a partial breakaway. Foligno's wrist shot beat Scrivens for the forward's third goal in the past three games.

Overall, however, Scrivens was terrific throughout the evening and made several big saves late for the Canadiens.

"He was the reason why we ended up picking up the win, making key save after key save," Therrien said. "He was really sharp."

NOTES: D Cody Franson (neck) and G Jason Kasdorf were scratched for Buffalo. Kasdorf signed an entry-level deal with the Sabres on Monday. The RPI product had a save percentage of .931 this season as a senior. ... The Sabres assigned F Daniel Catenacci to the AHL's Rochester Americans. ... D P.K. Subban (neck), RW Brendan Gallagher (lower body) and C Stefan Matteau were scratched for the Canadiens. ... This was the fifth and final meeting between the teams this season. ... As a franchise, the Sabres have more wins against the Canadiens (124) than any other NHL team.