MONTREAL – Buffalo Sabres defenseman Michael Kesselring said it three times.

“I’m starving,” he said prior to Thursday’s game against the Canadiens in the Bell Centre. “I’m starving. I’m starving.”

The oft-injured Kesselring, having played just 18 games this season, is starving for some action and to make an impact. More than three months into his first campaign with Buffalo, he’s starving to simply record his first point.

Following a two-game absence, Kesselring, 25, returned Thursday. Coach Lindy Ruff said he would be a game-time decision.

Kesselring missed Monday afternoon’s 2-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes and Tuesday’s 5-3 win over the Nashville Predators after tweaking the high ankle sprain that recently sidelined him seven games.

“I take a hit and it goes back, I feel like, a week, it goes back 10 percent with how I’m feeling,” he said. “So I just want to feel at least around 90 percent when I’m playing, so that’s kind of why I sat out and just rehabbed the last few days again.

“And feel like I’m at 90, so I think I’ll be good to go tonight, and we’ll take it from there.”

Kesselring skated alongside defenseman Jacob Bryson against the Canadiens prior to his injury. To make room, the Sabres scratched rookie defenseman Zach Metsa.

In his last outing, Kesselring looked hellbent on making in impact. Early in Saturday afternoon’s 5-4 overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild, he narrowly missed converting a scoring chance in front of the net and fought Marcus Foligno.

“It’s been really tough, honestly, mentally this year, and stuff like that,” he said. “I just wanted an impact. I honestly didn’t have him in my mind that game for the fight. But I just wanted to do something, and it worked out good. Really close off the post.”

Kesselring, who arrived in Buffalo as part of the JJ Peterka trade with the Utah Mammoth, also suffered a knee injury in training camp and hurt his ankle for the first time in mid-November.

“It’s been hard to get going, so I don’t want to go out there at 80 percent and I’m not playing well enough, and then I’m not playing, not moving well, not helping,” he said. “It’s better just for me to know that I can help the team. That’s kind of why I just took the few days to make sure I felt good.”

Before he left the lineup Dec. 31, Kesselring said he felt like he “was gaining some traction.”

“It’s tough right now, our D are playing really good,” he said. “They don’t want to break up the rhythm, we’re winning, so I just got find a way to get myself in there, play solid and just keep gaining trust and go from there.

“Honestly, just try to just make it pretty healthy to the (Olympic) break, and then I’ll get some time to heal up more. And then hopefully I can really push after that.”

After Bryson injury, Sabres recall high-scoring defenseman from Amerks

The Buffalo Sabres on Friday recalled Zac Jones, whose 31 assists rank first among AHL defensemen, from the Rochester Americans.

Sabres defenseman Jacob Bryson, who suffered an upper-body in the second period of Thursday’s 4-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens, has been placed on injured reserve.

Coach Lindy Ruff said following Thursday’s game that Bryson “will miss some time.”

Ruff, whose Sabres play a road game this afternoon against the Islanders, told reporters Friday in New York that Bryson traveled back to Buffalo to be examined by doctors.

Jones, 25, has been recalled several times this season but hasn’t played.

He has enjoyed a prolific offensive season, compiling six goals and 37 points in 32 games. His gaudy point total leads the Amerks and is tied for most among AHL defensemen.

The 5-foot-11, 190-pound Jones has recorded a team-high 23 power-play points.

In other news, Ruff said Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin, who was in visible pain after Ivan Demidov’s shot hit him in the left wrist or arm late in Thursday’s game, had a maintenance day Friday.

“We feel he’s going to be OK,” he told reporters.

Meanwhile, Sabres winger Zach Benson practiced Friday after Zachary Bolduc elbowed him in the head late in Thursday’s game.

Benson stayed on the ice and was attended to by a trainer.

“Incidental or not, I felt it was a little bit of a cheap shot,” Ruff said. “He’s back smiling and laughing this morning, so he’s doing good.”