BUFFALO — Bo Horvat had a goal and two assists for the Vancouver Canucks, who handed the Buffalo Sabers their sixth straight loss with a 5-4 win at KeyBank Center on Tuesday.
Elias Pettersson had a goal and an assist, and Spencer Martin made 28 saves for the Canucks (5-9-3), who ended a three-game losing streak.
“Obviously, we felt pretty good about holding that lead,” Horvat said. “Obviously, in games past we haven’t, and we definitely take our positives out of tonight. We did a lot of good things. Blocked some shots and a lot of key things to get pucks out toward the end there. We’re all really happy with our effort tonight.”
Video: VAN@BUF: Horvat scores on breakaway for PPG in 2nd
Jeff Skinner scored twice, Alex Tuch had a goal and two assists, and Tage Thompson had two assists for the Sabers (7-9-0), who have allowed 29 goals during their losing streak. Craig Anderson made 27 saves.
“Too easy out of the gate,” Buffalo coach Don Granato said. “That is a big lesson that needs to be learned now. Period.”
Dakota Joshua gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead at 8:01 of the first period, finishing a quick pass from Nils Aman after William Lockwood won a puck battle behind the net. The secondary assist was Lockwood’s first NHL point (16th game).
Ethan Bear scored his first goal with the Canucks from the high slot to make it 2-0 at 9:18.
“They got a couple of bounces early in the first and put us on our heels, and it took us all the way until the third period to recover,” Tuch said. “It’s a learning experience. We’re going to continue to learn together, but we have to be better.”
Skinner cut it to 2-1 at 11:15 of the first when he tapped in a cross-crease pass from Rasmus Dahlin at the right post.
Pettersson redirected in a point shot by Oliver Ekman-Larsson 31 seconds into the second period to extend the lead to 3-1.
Video: VAN@BUF: Pettersson scores a deflection goal in the 2nd
Skinner narrowed it to 3-2 at 3:43, scoring from the left circle off a pass from Thompson, who toe-dragged Ekman-Larsson to make the play.
JT Miller responded for Vancouver on the power play to make it 4-2 at 7:13, scoring glove side from the high slot off a face-off win by Horvat, who added another power-play goal on a breakaway following a bad line change by the Sabers to make it 5-2 at 8:25.
“We’ve got a pretty good power play, so any time we can get a power-play opportunity, we hopefully try to take advantage of it,” Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau said.
Tuch cut it to 5-3 at 11:12 when he redirected Owen Power‘s shot from above the left circle.
“I think guys here are really hard on themselves,” Tuch said. “That’s good to keep yourself accountable, but you also have to continue to try to work and play your game and not let it get into your head. I think that’s something we have to learn as a group. … Bounce back a little quicker. We’ve done it in the past, we’ve done it this year, we’ve just got to get back to it.”
Video: VAN@BUF: Tuch tips in goal to make it 5-3 in the 2nd
Casey Mittelstadt got Buffalo to within 5-4 at 12:02 of the third period. He scored from the slot after Dylan Cozens‘ pass deflected to him off the skate Sheldon Dries shortly after a power play expired.
“It wasn’t that we stopped playing, but we started watching and wanting to be too safe, and you can’t do that. And that’s how they got the third goal,” Boudreau said. “The last thing you want them to do is say, ‘Uh oh, here we go again.’ But you can only do that if you build on that and have another good third period. When you win games by one goal, you learn how to win a lot. So it’s important. Those are good wins.”
NOTES: Horvat has scored 14 goals this season, one behind Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers for the NHL lead. … Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes had his personal assist streak end at 10 games. … Canucks forward Vasily Podkolzin did not play due to a facial injury. … Thompson extended his point streak to five games (four goals, three assists) and has 18 points (10 goals, eight assists) in his past nine games. … Sabers defenseman Henri Jokiharju had two shots, one hit and two blocks in 18:14 of ice time in his return after missing 11 games with a facial fracture.
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