VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — If the Vancouver Canucks hope to still be playing hockey in the spring, they have to keep winning the close games now.
Saturday was a nice start.
J.T. Miller scored a power-play goal 3:21 into overtime to lift the Canucks over the Buffalo Sabres 6-5.
Buffalo's Marcus Johansson scored with 59 seconds left and his team’s goalie pulled in the third period to tie it at 5, but Miller scored his 13th of the season off a pass from rookie defenseman Quinn Hughes in OT.
The Sabres thought they had scored in overtime, but the goal was disallowed because of a delayed penalty interference penalty to Henri Jokiharau. Miller scored on the ensuing power play.
“We have to stay in the present and worry about each game and try not to look too far ahead,” Miller said. “If you worry about the present, take care of all the things you can control, it leads to success at the end of the year.”
Antoine Roussel and Josh Leivo had two goals each for the Canucks. Tyler Myers added a short-handed goal and an assist, while Jake Virtanen had two assists.
“We’ve talked about the same thing the last couple of weeks, staying with it no matter what happens during a game,” Myers said. “We would have liked to have finished it off in 60 (minutes), but to do it in overtime was a good way for our group to keep playing the same way.”
Roussel has three goals in two games after missing eight months with knee surgery. Leivo has four goals in his last four games.
Rookie Victor Olofsson had a goal and an assist for Buffalo, which battled back from deficits of 2-0, 3-2 and 5-3.
Kyle Okposo, Zemgus Girgensons and Rasmus Ristolainen also scored for the Sabres. Jack Eichel had three assists for a career-high points streak of 12 games (10 goals, 13 assists).
“I just felt like we shot ourselves in the foot a few times,” Eichel said. “We kept battling through the adversity.”
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. Chris Tanev blocked a shot, and Tanner Pearson passed to Miller. He rushed into the Buffalo zone and passed to Myers, 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 Virtanen’s 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.
“It turned into one hell of a hockey game for the people that were here," Sabres coach Ralph Krueger said. "But we didn’t like the finish.”
NOTES: The Sabres played 8:24 of the first period before managing a shot on net. ... The Canucks sent F 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. ... Fs Jay Beagle (lower body) and Micheal Ferland (concussion) returned to the Vancouver lineup. ... F Brandon Sutter (groin) missed his 11th game. ... Hutton's last win was Oct. 22. ... Vancouver G Jacob Markstrom, who missed Tuesday's game to return to Sweden for his father's funeral, dressed as the backup.
UP NEXT
Sabres: Play at Edmonton on Sunday night.
Canucks: Host Toronto on Tuesday night.
