Tonight the Sabres continued their western road trip picking up their first regulation win of the season on the road, beating the Canucks 3-2 in a really good effort for our second win in a row.

The Sabres scored the first goal of the game, 7:36 into the first, as Rasmus Dahlin ripped a one timer after Ryan McLeod set it up with a sick little move behind the net to keep the puck. Nasty move by McLeod. With 10.6 seconds to go in the first, Kiefer Sherwood tied up the game on probably the third rebound on the same sequence, sliding it past Lyon as Jordan Greenway fanned on the puck to clear it. Pretty bad defense on that kill. Decent first period with some heated moments and despite the Sabres getting outshot 12-6 in that first 20 minutes, I thought we played pretty well there.

The Canucks took a 2-1 lead on a nice individual effort by Max Sasson in transition, carrying the puck into the zone, going right around Bowen Byram, who looked like a pylon there and slid it past Lyon five hole with 13:46 left in the second period. Tage Thompson, who’s been on fire lately tied it up with 10:48 to go in the second, with a nice toe drag and perfectly placed beauty of a shot from the slot. With 5:13 to go in the second, Zach Benson gave the Sabres their lead back on a nice little play, cutting to the slot for a quick one timer off a pass from behind the net from Josh Doan. Pretty fun period of hockey there to watch. Evenly played with plenty of chances for both teams.

I thought Vancouver looked like the way better team trying to tie it up in the third period, and they had a bunch of really good looks to knot it up late. The Sabres had one really good defensive effort with the net empty for the Canucks, blocking two or three shots in a row to hang onto the lead, held on and got the win in Vancouver. Impressive effort there, especially late by the defense in front of Lyon, who had a huge third period himself.

FINAL: Sabres 3, Canucks 2

View this post on Instagram

First regulation win of the season on the road for the Sabres! This was a really fun game tonight and I was impressed how well Buffalo played defensively, especially late as Vancouver was really pressing offensively, but really through the whole game. Lyon was very good, making some huge saves. Fun one to stay up late for.

---

Please follow me:

Instagram: @atownszone

Twitter: @atownszone

If you like the site and my work, share it with your friends!

… and tell Dave Portnoy to hire me at Barstool…