VANCOUVER — J.T. Miller scored on a power play 3:21 into overtime as the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Buffalo Sabres 6-5 Saturday afternoon.
Miller scored his 13th of the season off a pass from rookie defenceman Quinn Hughes.
Buffalo’s Marcus Johnansson forced the overtime by scoring with 59 seconds left in the game and the Sabres’ goaltender on the bench for an extra attacker.
The Sabres thought they had scored in overtime but the goal was disallowed because of a delayed penalty interference penalty to Henri Jokiharau.
Antoine Roussel and Josh Leivo had two goals each for the Canucks (15-11-4). Defenceman Tyler Myers added a short-handed goal and an assist while Jake Virtanen had two assists.
Roussel has three goals in just two games after missing eight months with knee surgery. Leivo now has four goals in his last four games.
Rookie Victor Olofsson had a goal and an assist for Buffalo, who battled back from deficits of 2-0, 3-2, and 5-3.
Kyle Okposo, Zemgus Girgensons and Rasmus Ristolainen also scored for the Sabres (13-11-6). Jack Eichel had three assists giving him a career-high, consecutive-points streak of 12 games (10 goals, 13 assists).
Thatcher Demko, making his second consecutive start, stopped 23 shots for the Canucks.
Buffalo goalie Carter Hutton made 24 saves.
Myers, who had gone 15 games without a point, scored his first goal as a Canuck at 4:51 of third period with Vancouver killing a penalty. Defenceman Chris Tanev blocked a shot. Tanner Pearson passed to Miller who rushed into the Buffalo zone, then passed to Myer who had an open net for a 4-3 lead.
Roussel scored his second of the night a few minutes later off the rebound of a Virtanen shot.
Girgensons drew the Sabres close again at 12:05.
Buffalo scored three times in the second period, including goals 64 seconds apart, to tie the game 3-3 after 40 minutes.
Roussel gave Vancouver a 2-0 lead with just 3:07 gone. Hutton stopped a Myers shot from the point but Roussel put in the rebound.
Okposo drew Buffalo to within one at 5:24. Johan Larsson sent a pass from behind the net through Tanev’s legs onto Okposo’s stick. He scored in his first game back after missing 10 with a concussion.
Ristolainen made it 2-2 at 6:28, scoring after a drop pass from Olofsson.
Vancouver went ahead again on Leivo’s second goal of the night at 17:11. The play started with a turnover at centre ice. Leivo made a pretty give-and-go with Elias Pettersson, then beat Hutton.
The Sabres tied the game again with Olofsson’s power-play goal with just 44 seconds left in the period. He took a pass from Sam Reinhardt and rifled a shot from the faceoff circle for his 12th of the year.
A long pass from defenceman Jordie Benn set up the only goal of the first period at 12:27. Leivo outbattled Buffalo defenceman Marco Scandella for the puck at the blue line, then skated in on net and beat Hutton with a hard shot to the stick side.
NOTES
The Sabres played 8:24 of the first period before managing a shot on net. … The Canucks sent forward Nikolay Goldobin, who has appeared in one game this season, to the AHL Utica Comets. … The Canucks wore their gold, black and red flying V uniforms in warmups. … Forwards Jay Beagle (lower body) and Micheal Ferland (concussion) returned to the Vancouver lineup. … Forward Brandon Sutter (groin) missed his 11th game. … Hutton’s last win was Oct. 22. … The Sabres play the Oilers in Edmonton Sunday night. … Vancouver goaltender Jacob Markstrom, who missed Tuesday’s game to return to Sweden for his father’s funeral, dressed as the backup.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 7, 2019.
Jim Morris, The Canadian Press