(WGR 550) – With three games in four nights and six games in 11, the Buffalo Sabres finally ran out of gas on Thursday in Vancouver. The team also has sickness going through the team as Josh Norris missed his second straight game due to illness and Alex Tuch only could make two minutes of the warm-up before deciding he was too sick to play. After the game, Lindy Ruff revealed that another player gutted it out and played with the illness. The 3-2 win over the Canucks was an example of what Ruff always says, you need to find a way to win when you don’t have your A game.

On Thursday Alex Lyon was spectacular and stole them a hockey game, but the team also showed a lot of desperation blocking a season high 26 shots. Vancouver outshot the Sabres in the third period 12-2 and 32-15 overall. The shot attempts were 84-37 in favor of the Canucks.

Down the stretch when the Canucks pulled Thatcher Demko for the extra attacker, Lyon made every save and he got help from Jordan Greenway and Tyson Kozak with huge blocked shots. Kozak and Conor Timmins both had five blocked shots on the game.

Lyon, who came on in relief on both Monday and Tuesday and had 30 saves, many coming from Grade-A opportunities.

In the third period Lyon robbed Drew O’Connor as he came in alone after a Timmins turnover. He did the same to Brock Boeser and Max Sasson who were right at the top of the crease with great opportunities.

Sasson scored a goal early in the second period when he blew past Mattias Samuelsson and Bo Byram for a breakaway. That gave Vancouver a 2-1 lead, but 2:57 later, Rasmus Dahlin intercepted a clearing attempt up the wall and found Tage Thompson in the slot to give him goals in three consecutive games.

Before the second period was over the Sabres got a power play and Josh Doan found Zach Benson darting into the slot for his first goal of the year. It was Benson’s first goal since March 12 covering 35 games.

At .484 the Sabres are still in last place in the Eastern Conference, five points out of the eighth and final playoff spot held by the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Pittsburgh holds two games in hand.

Buffalo will try to win three games in a row for the first time all season on Sunday when they close out this six-game road trip in Seattle. In their history Seattle has beaten Buffalo seven out of the eight times they’ve played.

The Kraken are in Utah on Friday and have lost six out of seven games.

Featured Image Photo Credit: Bob Frid USA Today Images