Vancouver, British Columbia (WGR 550/WBEN) - Already clinging to slim playoff chances in the Eastern Conference, the last thing the Buffalo Sabres could do on Tuesday night was take a loss in regulation.
Unfortunately, the Vancouver Canucks handed Buffalo a 3-2 regulation loss at Rogers Arena.
Just over four minutes in to the opening period, Vancouver got the scoring started.
Forward Conor Garland's 14th goal of the season survived a goaltender interference challenge by Buffalo, which put the Sabres down a man as a result for two minutes.
Fortunately, the Sabres held strong on the Canucks' man advantage, and kept their deficit at just one goal through 20 minutes of play.
Vancouver doubled its lead to 2-0 with just over six minutes remaining in the second period.
On an abbreviated power play chance, Elias Pettersson's backhand beat Sabres goalie Devon Levi for the forward's 32nd goal of the 2023-24 campaign.
The Sabres finally broke through at the midway point of the third period.
While skating 4-on-4, defenseman Rasmus Dahlin accepted a pass from Owen Power, and scooted his way through the Vancouver defense before he flipped a backhand shot in-behind Canucks goalie Casey DeSmith to make it 2-1.
It was still a 2-1 contest in the late stages of the night, which led to a goalie pull from head coach Don Granato in favor of an extra skater.
With Levi on the bench, Pettersson managed to salt the game away with his second goal of the night made it a two-goal margin with just under two minutes to play.
Dahlin tried his best to re-kindle Buffalo's hope, as he scored his second goal of the night with 21 seconds to go to cut the deficit to 3-2. However, his 17th goal of the season came too little, too late in a win for the Canucks.
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SCORING RECAP
First Period:
BUF: NONE
VAN: 4:06 - Conor Garland (14) (Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson)
Second Period:
BUF: NONE
VAN: 13:48 - Elias Pettersson (32) PPG (J.T. Miller, Quinn Hughes)
Third Period:
BUF: 9:23 - Rasmus Dahlin (16) (Owen Power, Alex Tuch); 19:39 - Rasmus Dahlin (17) (Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch)
VAN: 18:09 - Elias Pettersson (33) ENG (J.T. Miller)
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Losi & Gangi Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Elias Pettersson - VAN
2.) Rasmus Dahlin - BUF
3.) Quinn Hughes - VAN
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What's next:
The Sabres continue their Western Canada swing on Thursday in Edmonton against Connor McDavid and the Oilers. Puck drop at Rogers Place is slated for 9 p.m. ET with pregame coverage on WGR with Brian Koziol and Paul Hamilton starting at 8 p.m. ET.