Saturday, January 11, 2020 01:00 PM (ET)

Boeser, four-goal third period lift Canucks past Sabres

Field Level Media
Jan 11, 2020

Brock Boeser capped his two-goal performance by scoring the go-ahead tally in Vancouver's four-goal third period, lifting the visiting Canucks to a 6-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon.

With the game tied at 3, Boeser and defenseman Christopher Tanev worked a crisp give-and-go that ended with the former's second goal at 6:24 of the third period.

Jake Virtanen scored on a delayed penalty 74 seconds later with an extra skater on the ice to give Vancouver a 5-3 lead.

J.T. Miller and Bo Horvat each notched a goal and an assist, and Loui Eriksson scored into an empty net for the Canucks, who snapped a two-game losing streak in which they were outscored 14-4 against Tampa Bay and Florida.

Tanner Pearson recorded two assists, and Jacob Markstrom stopped 25 shots.

Defenseman Brandon Montour, Sam Reinhart and Zemgus Girgensons tallied for the Sabres, who lost their second straight and are 3-8-1 in the last 12. Defenseman Rasmus Dahlin and captain Jack Eichel each had two assists.

Eichel's helpers extended his point streak to six games, and he has points in 24 of this last 26 games (19 goals, 20 assists). Carter Hutton made 29 saves.

The Sabres grabbed a 1-0 lead at 8:44 of the first period by spending almost three full minutes in front of Markstrom, starting with a power play.

Buffalo's top unit stayed on the ice the full two minutes as Vancouver failed to clear the zone, and Montour scored 39 seconds after the man advantage ended.

The Canucks tied it at 1 at 15:33 of the first period. Defenseman Troy Stecher sent a shot in on Hutton, and Boeser, battling with Johan Larsson in front, reached back and cleverly redirected the puck past the netminder.

Vancouver took its first lead early in the second when Horvat attempted a cross-ice pass through the slot, but it struck defenseman Lawrence Pilut and caromed back to Horvat, who put it into an open net for his 13th overall and 10th on the road.

With Buffalo on its second power play, Reinhart evened it at 2 when he one-timed a blast off Markstrom just 18 seconds into the man advantage. The marker was Reinhart's 15th of the season.

Miller gave the Canucks their second lead 1:17 into the third when he put in his own rebound, but Girgensons deflected in Kyle Okposo's long shot just over two minutes later.

Markstrom kept Buffalo scoreless for the remainder of the game to improve to 16-12-3.

--Field Level Media

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