The Sabres were in control for most of tonight’s game against the Canucks, almost blew a 4-0 lead late in the third period, but still got the win 5-3 at home to bounce back after their ten game win streak ended on Saturday.
Tage Thomson opened the scoring just 2:01 into the game, with the puck getting right to him in traffic right in the front in the slot and slid it past Demko to give the Sabres an early 1-0 lead. Ryan McLeod added to the Sabres lead, scoring shorthanded on a beautiful two on one in transition with Alex Tuch after a nice steal at the blue line for Tuch. 2-0 Buffalo! Pretty good first period that was fun to watch, with both teams getting some solid chances. UPL was also solid in goal for the Sabres, making some key saves when he had to.
9:37 into the second period, Alex Tuch made it 3-0 Buffalo cashing in on a really nice setup from Bowen Byram, who slid the puck right above the crease perfectly to Tuch. Really nice goal that Demko didn’t have enough time to slide over to make the save on.
The Sabres kept rolling in the fourth with Zach Metsa getting his first NHL point on a great play, jumping into the slot to get the puck and then sniping it past Thatcher Demko to put the Sabres up 4-0 on the first goal of his career. The Canucks broke the shutout on the power play, with Jake DeBrusk scoring with 9:43 to go, batting in a bouncing puck from a rebound set up by Keifer Sherwood right in front. Elias Pettersson made it made it 4-2 on a really nice goal, getting the puck in the slot and spinning around for a beauty with 4:44 left in regulation. The Sabres really started to collapse though, with Liam Ohgren scoring 39 seconds later, ripping it at a low angle past a screened UPL on a pretty bad defensive play to get the Canucks back within one with 4:05 left to go. Terrible defense from the Sabres to led to that. The Sabres iced off the game with 1:24 remaining with Josh Doan scoring from the opposite red line on the empty net to make it 5-3. Big empty netter.
FINAL: Sabres 5, Canucks 3
Big win to bounce back after we almost collapsed in the third. We were in control for this entire game until late in the third period, where it looked like they were crumbling apart, but huge to get the win. Eleven in our last twelve.
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