VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Defenseman Brad Lukowich scored a third-period goal and the Vancouver
Canucks earned a 3-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night.
Thomas Vanek tied the game on a power
play 1:49 into the period, but Henrik and Daniel Sedin combined on a
nice play to set up Lukowich for the winner. After taking a pass from
twin brother Henrik, Daniel cut into the slot before making a
between-the-legs drop pass to Lukowich pinching in hard from the point.
Lukowich, who was in the American
Hockey League until recently because of the Canucks' salary cap issues
to start the season, quickly snapped a shot over Ryan Miller's glove at
5:21 of the third period for his first goal since Nov. 5, 2007.
Mikael Samuelsson and Henrik Sedin
also scored and Daniel Sedin had two assists for the Canucks, who have
won five straight games for the first time since March 2007. Roberto
Luongo made 30 saves as Vancouver improved to 12-2-2 over its past 16
games to move into a tie with Colorado atop the Northwest Division.
Adam Mair also scored, and Miller made 22 saves as the Sabres dropped the final four games of season-long seven-game road trip.
Making their first visit in four
years and looking for their first win in Vancouver since 1999, the
Sabres took the lead on Mair's first goal of the season 3:13 into the
second period.
Samuelsson tied it five minutes
later, cutting into the middle on a 2-on-2 rush and sliding a backhander
between Miller's legs, and Henrik Sedin gave the Canucks the lead on a
breakaway 3:20 after that. Sent in by Alex Burrows, Sedin faked to his
backhand to draw Miller to his left, stopped and reached back around to
tuck it in on the forehand. The assist extended Burrows' point streak
to 12 games (13 goals, six assists).
Buffalo appeared to tie the game on a
short-handed rush with 33.6 seconds left in the second period, but it was
waved off and the Sabres were given another penalty.
After Ryan Kesler's power-play shot
hit off the crossbar, the Sabres broke out on an odd-man rush and Craig
Rivet's shot went in off the hand of defenseman Christian Ehrhoff. But
referee Kerry Fraser called Buffalo forward Paul Gaustad for
cross-checking Ehrhoff into the net instead, giving the Canucks a
5-on-3 advantage.
Miller made a couple of good stops
before the period ended, a Kesler elbow ended the advantage early in
the third, and the Sabres tied it on the ensuing power play. Vanek's
deflection of Tim Connolly's shot went off the post, off Luongo and
trickled over the line, extending Connolly's point streak to 16 games —
the longest active run in the NHL — with seven goals and 18 assists.
A scoreless first period was
highlighted by a matchup of Olympic goalies, with likely American
starter Miller turning away US teammate Kesler on a breakaway just 2:21
in. Not to be outdone, Team Canada goalie Luongo, who was playing
behind a blue line missing three of its top-four defenders, threw out
his left pad to stop Mike Grier from point-blank range with 4:30 left
in the period.
Vancouver improved to 9-1-0 against
teams from the Eastern Conference, while the Sabres slipped to 8-3-2
against Western Conference opponents.
Notes
Buffalo RW Drew Stafford was
a late scratch with the flu. Canucks D Willie Mitchell missed a fourth
straight game as coach Alain Vigneault confirmed before the game he
suffered a concussion after being hit head-first into the boards by
Evgeni Malkin late in a 6-2 win over the Penguins on Jan. 16. He is
listed day to day, but hasn't resumed skating. Sami Salo (groin) is
also day to day, while Kevin Bieksa (ankle surgery) is out
indefinitely. Canucks RW Rick Rypien returned after missing three games
with the flu.