Canucks 5 Sabres 4 Game Day Results

It was a high energy and back and forth start to the game. Ethan Bear got set up in the offensive zone and fired a puck on net for his first as a Canuck and first goal of the game. Dakota Joshua then preceded to score his third of the year from a cross-ice feed in the offensive zone, forcing the goalie to go left to right and dished the puck in with a hard shot. However, Jeff Skinner answered back for the Sabres with a cross-crease goal of his own.

The second period started off with a bang. Elias Pettersson opened the second with the 3-1 goal carrying the Canucks to a two goal lead. Oliver Ekman-Larsson shot the puck on the net and Pettersson deflected it past Craig Anderson for the Canucks third goal of the night. Jeff Skinner then came back again with the retaliation goal and his second of the night, after the Buffalo Sabres' offense had a highlight reel tic-tac-toe deke play that ended perfectly.

The Vancouver Canucks immediately came back with a vengeance. Once they were in the offensive zone, right off the face-off draw, Bo Horvat won the faceoff clean with a pass to J.T. Miller. From there, everything people saw in KeyBank Center was the swishing of the net from a Miller snipe. The Canucks then caught the Sabres on a line change when Spencer Martin shot the puck down the ice towards Elias Pettersson. Pettersson passed to Brock Boeser, who then set up Bo Horvat in the slot for Vancouver's fifth goal of the night.

A few passes by the Buffalo Sabres moments later and Alex Tuch scored with what looked like a rather weak lob onto the net.

The Vancouver Canucks held the Buffalo Sabres from scoring another goal until the last 10 minutes of the third period. Spencer Martin had an good save on Tage Thompson after Thompson had to settle down the pass before shooting. Casey Mittelstadt scored the fourth goal for the Buffalo Sabres when Spencer Martin was screened with too much traffic in front of him. William Lockwood played an excellent defensive game and stopped the Sabres from advancing multiple times. It got nerve-wracking but the Canucks held on to the lead and won the game.