In Vancouver, Rasmus Dahlin scored early to give the Buffalo Sabres a 1-0 lead on Saturday night. It was the fifth straight game with a goal for Dahlin. 
“I think it starts from hard work, and we really deserve this confidence we have right now,” Dahlin said. “We’re playing away games, but we’re playing them really, really good and we’re really starting to find our game. So yeah, our confidence level is high right now.”
Craig Anderson made 29 saves and the Sabres downed the Canucks, 5-1.
“I’m not trying to think about it,” Dahlin said. “I was into [the defensive] zone for 80 percent of this game, but when situations happen out there, I try to score, so it feels good when the puck goes in.”
The loss kept the Canucks from claiming their first win of the season.
“He’s making plays that kind of reminds me of when Erik Karlsson was at the top of his game,” Anderson said. “He was doing things with the puck that you just wouldn’t expect him to do because he had that confidence, and [Dahlin] is there in his own game. I’m not comparing him to Erik, but I’m comparing him to that confidence, that swagger with the puck that he has to be able to make those plays. He’s just playing loose and letting his skill and ability take over right now.”
Conor Garland was the lone striker for the Canucks.
“My job is to help us find a way out of this,” Vancouver coach Bruce Boudreau said. “So I’ll be doing whatever I can to see what I can do to get this thing turned around. Their job should be, individually, ‘What can I do to turn this thing around?’ That’s what I’d feel if they booed us off the ice like this. I would hope our pride kicks in.”
Victor Olofsson hit for a pair of goals and three points on the night.
“It was nice to get that quick goal right away and kill momentum for them,” Olofsson said. “We took over after that.”
Alex Tuch and Zemgus Girgensons added single markers for the Sabres.
Thatcher Demko made 22 saves in the loss.
“Pretty frustrating,” forward J.T. Miller said. “We left [Demko] out to dry there in the last 10 minutes. We had a chance to win going into the third. Up until the third period, I thought we were playing in a pretty good game. To come out and play a third like that given our situation was tough to swallow.”
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