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Sometimes there’s just no rhyme or reason to what transpires in professional sports.

On Sunday, the Buffalo Sabres lost on home ice to the Anaheim Ducks, one of the NHL’s worst teams, despite a 37-15 shots advantage. The Ducks, five days earlier, were blanked 5-0 by the Canadiens, producing only 13 shots in the process.

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So, of course, the Sabres came into the Bell Centre Wednesday night and defeated Montreal 3-2. The Canadiens have now lost three straight heading into Thursday night’s game at Pittsburgh (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN Radio 690, 98.5 FM), against a team that had the night off on Wednesday. What could possibly go wrong?

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Strange but true (Part I): Buffalo and Montreal have met four times this season. The visiting team won all four of those games. The Canadiens’ record on home ice now is 11-16-3.

Strange but true (Part II): The Sabres, given their years of futility, have drafted a player in the top 10 on 10 occasions over an 11-year span. Four times, that player was in the top two selections. Nonetheless, Buffalo hasn’t made the playoffs since 2011 — and won’t qualify this season, either.

He likes playing the Canadiens: Jeff Skinner, whose second-period power-play goal tied the game, 2-2, was playing Montreal for the 42nd time in his career. He now has 27 goals and 47 points, including four goals and seven points this season.

News you need: Wednesday’s game marked the first time Canadiens defencemen David Savard and Arber Xhekaj were teamed together. Jayden Struble and Jordan Harris, who returned from a concussion, played together for the first time since early January. Both are graduates of Northeastern University.

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Shine the badge: The Sheriff is back. Xhekaj had some struggles following his stint in the minors with the AHL’s Laval Rocket. But he returned with a vengeance against the Sabres. Not only did he open the scoring with his third goal in the first period, the 6-foot-4, 240-pound defenceman proved to be a one-man wrecking crew.

He hit Dylan Cozens in the game’s second minute, hit him a second time in the game’s 13th minute, sought revenge against Casey Mittelstadt early in the third period, following the Sabres’ hit on Jake Evans, but saved his best for the 16th minute of the same period, when he absolutely crushed Zemgus Girgensons with an open-ice hit, leading with his left shoulder. We’re still wondering how Girgensons got up. Xhekaj was credited with four hits.

The streak continues: Beleaguered veteran winger Josh Anderson has now gone 11 games without a goal, dating back to Jan. 11, but also was on the ice for both Canadiens’ goals against Buffalo, his presence conspicuous. He also deflected a third-period point shot that almost ended the goal-less streak. Anderson had four shots.

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Pass of the night: Rookie Joshua Roy, while falling to the ice and with one hand on his stick, to Xhekaj, who scored. On the other hand, we’re trying to figure out how a guy, with one hand on his stick, was able to elude two Buffalo players with that pass.

How you get in the coach’s doghouse: Juraj Slafkovsky has been one of the Canadiens’ best players lately. And let’s not forget he’s still only 19. The former first overall draft choice took two holding penalties in less than a four-minute span in the second period. One, against Girgensons, came off his own turnover, the Sabres scoring on the ensuing power-play. Slafkovsky then held Rasmus Dahlin in the offensive zone.

A shift to forget: Cole Caufield doesn’t have many, but his turnover in the second period — while attempting to deliver a drop pass to Mike Matheson — resulted in a Alex Tuch breakaway and a shorthanded goal beating Samuel Montembeault to the glove side. In case you were wondering, the Canadiens have now allowed a league-high nine shorthanded goals.

Faceoff of the night: Alex Newhook against Peyton Krebs, eventually leading to the Canadiens’ second goal, by Struble.

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Our Pezzetta moment: Michael Pezzetta, who brings energy and a physical presence to the Canadiens every shift and makes the most of his limited ice time, was a healthy scratch against Buffalo, head coach Martin St. Louis electing instead to dress Jesse Ylönen. Ylönen had one hit, was a minus-1 and had a team-low 8:16 of ice time.

Dumb penalty: Tage Thompson’s slash on Newhook with 1:34 remaining in regulation time, resulting in a six-on-four advantage with Montembeault on the bench.

Dumber penalty: Slafkovsky’s hook on Cozens with 26 seconds remaining in regulation time. The Slovak needs to keep two hands on his stick.

They said it: “One of my better games for sure,” Xhekaj said. “I wasn’t forcing anything and was letting plays come to me. When I had the puck I had good poise with it. Just one of those games where you’re involved.”

“They’re a good team,” Suzuki said. “They have a lot of good players. Their spot in the standings doesn’t really say what kind of team they are. Yeah, we want to win those games on home ice especially. I thought we did a lot of good things tonight. We just weren’t able to score more goals than them.

“It could have been (Xhekaj’s) best game in the NHL,” he added.

“I don’t even know what our record (at home) is,” Montembeault said. “I just heard about it.”

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