VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Rasmus Dahlin scored for the fifth straight game, extending his NHL record for defenseman to open a season, and added an assist as the Buffalo Sabres beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-1 Saturday night.
Victor Oloffson had two goals an an assist, Alex Tuch and Zemgus Girgensons also scored and Casey Mittlestadt added two assists for the Sabres. Craig Anderson stopped 29 shots.
Conor Garland scored for the Canucks, who remained the league's only winless team (0-4-2). Thatcher Demko had 22 saves.
Trailing 3-1, Vancouver pulled Demko in favor of an extra attacker with less than four minutes to go and Girgensons put an easy shot into the yawning net with 3 1/2 minutes remaining. Just 50 seconds later, Olofsson put a shot past the Canucks’ goalie for his second of the game.
Trailing 2-0, Vancouver got on the scoreboard midway through the second period with a power-play goal after Dahlin was called for tripping. Stationed in front of the Sabres’ net, Tanner Pearson sent a blind, spinning, backhand pass to Garland and the forward fired it past Anderson from the low hash mark.
The Sabres regained a two-goal advantage 1:54 into the third off a 2-on-1 as Mittelstadt sliced a pass across the slot and Olofsson snapped a shot past Demko.
The Sabres lost defenseman Mattias Samuelsson after he hit Curtis Lazar along the end boards about three minutes into the middle period. Samuelsson went down awkwardly after the contact and lay writhing on the ice, grabbing his right knee before a trainer came out to help him to the bench. He went directly to the Buffalo locker room and did not return.
Buffalo opened the scoring with an early power-play goal after Tyler Myers was called for tripping Tage Thompson. Dahlin ripped a shot from inside the blue line and the puck hit Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson in the high slot before sailing in past Demko 5:35 into the game.
After Vancouver's Oliver Ekman-Larsson gave away the puck in the slot, Tuch was there to pick it up and whip a shot under Demko’s arm to give the Sabres a 2-0 lead with 4:42 left in the first.
BRUISED BLUE LINE
Vancouver was missing three defensemen with various ailments, including star Quinn Hughes (undisclosed). The team called up Noah Juulsen from Abbotsford of the AHL earlier on Saturday and defenseman Jack Rathbone made his season debut.
UP NEXT
Buffalo: At Seattle on Tuesday in last of a four-game trip.
Vancouver: At Carolina on Monday.
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