In Buffalo, the visiting Vancouver Canucks blew a two-goal lead late in the third period as the Sabres’ Jeff Skinner and Sam Reinhart scored tie the game 3-3 and force extra time.
The game went to a skills competition where the Sabres completed the rally for a 4-3 win.
“It’s a good feeling to have that belief,” Reinhart said. “You’re going to run through adversity throughout the year and you sort of need to keep that belief. Things aren’t going to go your way, you’re going to have bad nights. Tonight I think wasn’t our best night, but we found a way to get the job done and get two points.”
Carter Hutton made 36 saves to get the win.
“He (coach Phil Housley) comes in here, he’s positive between periods, he’s on us to get those goals and he knows that we’re never out of games. … I think we’re starting to believe in each other,” Sabres captain Jack Eichel said. “I know that we know we’re never out of games. He’s building an identity for us. I think the more and more we stick to it and believe in what we’re trying to do and believe in him and believe in ourselves it’s working out.”
Nathan Beaulieu also scored for Buffalo who improved to 9-6-2.
“I try to get a puck on net, [Rasmus Dahlin] whipped it over to me, and I miss the net,” Beaulieu said. “I knew [Kyle Okposo] was going to get it with some serious time so I just tried to get open. He made a world-class play.”
Casey Mittelstadt was credited with the game-winner in the skills competition.
Loui Eriksson, Jake Virtanen and Erik Gudbranson scored for the Canucks.
“That’s not good when you’re up 3-1 with under five to go, you need to close it out. It’s as simple as that,” Gudbranson said. “That definitely burns but we’ve got to use it to our advantage and not let it happen again.”
Vancouver dropped to 10-6-2.
“A lot of the guys are playing well. We’re playing some good hockey,” Bo Horvat said. “It’s unfortunate to give up that point. I thought we had a pretty solid game for 55 minutes; it’s just a matter of closing it out.”
[WATCH: All Canucks vs. Sabres highlights]
Jacob Markstrom made 34 saves in taking the loss.
“They found some holes. That top line’s good, they’re creative and if you give them a little bit of space they’re going to take a mile so that’s kind of what happened,” Gudbranson said after the loss.
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