BUFFALO, N.Y. — Another brain cramp from Ryan White put the Canadiens in a precarious position and opened the door for the Buffalo Sabres to come from behind to beat Montreal 5-4 in a shootout Thursday night at First Niagara Center. White took a double minor for roughing with Montreal up 4-2 in the third period and Thomas Vanek scored during the first half of the penalty and then notched his 10th goal of the season with 1.9 seconds remaining to force the overtime. Repentigny's own Jason Pominville scored the winning goal in the shootout.

Subban on a roll: P.K. Subban's power-play goal was his second in as many nights as he has solidified his spot on the No. 1 power-play unit. He was on the ice for a season-high 21:04.

Point a game: Tomas Plekanec scored his fifth and sixth goals of the season and he shares the team scoring lead with defenceman Andrei Markov, who picked up an assist on Subban's goal. They each have 10 points in as many games for a one-point lead on Raphael Diaz. Two other players are averaging a point a game. Max Pacioretty, who missed four games following an emergency appendectomy, hasn't scored a goal this season but he had the second assist on Subban's goal and has six assists in six games. And Subban, who had a late start to the season while he was negotiating a new contract, has a point in each of his four appearances.

Something special: The Canadiens went 1-for-4 on the power play and allowed the Sabres only one goal on seven chances. The Sabres had four consecutive power plays in the second period and failed to score.

Tough one for Budaj: Backup goaltender Peter Budaj was making his second start of the season and was disappointed to see the win slip away. He made 36 saves. Ryan Miller made 32 saves and proved to be vulnerable on the blocker side.

A definite plus: Rookie Brendan Gallagher scored his fourth goal of the season to give the Canadiens a 2-1 lead at 12:31 of the second period. The 20-year-old has six points this season, but his most impressive stat is his team-leading plus-7 rating.

Changing of the guard: White returned to the lineup after a three-game absence. A spot opened up for him on the fourth line because Travis Moen is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

What's next: The Canadiens get a chance to avenge their season-opening loss to Toronto when the Maple Leafs visit the Bell Centre Saturday (7 p.m., CBC, RDS, TSN-690 Radio).

phickey@montrealgazette.com

Twitter: @zababes1