Tuch has goal, assist, Sabres hold off Canucks

BUFFALO -- Alex Tuch had a goal and an assist for the Buffalo Sabres in a 5-3 win against the Vancouver Canucks at KeyBank Center on Tuesday.

Bowen Byram had two assists, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 32 saves for the Sabres (22-15-4), who have won 11 of their past 12 games.

“Obviously, we let off the gas a little bit and let them get back in the game. I thought there was a couple of lucky bounces, but we stuck with it, we didn’t lose any confidence,” Tuch said. “We called the timeout (in the third period), we said, ‘Hey, regroup, let’s go get an empty-netter because we know they’re going to pull and let’s finish this game.’ That was the mentality we had tonight.”

Jake DeBrusk, Elias Pettersson and Liam Ohgren scored in the third period for the Canucks (16-21-5), who have lost four straight (0-2-2) and six of their past seven. Brock Boeser had two assists, and Thatcher Demko made 15 saves.

“Obviously, we knew Buffalo is one of the hottest teams in the League. We weren’t ready to play. That’s on us,” DeBrusk said. “‘Demmer’ kept us in it, and I liked the fight we had in the third period, but in saying that, there’s a fine line between winning and losing. Little plays at the beginning of the game, little plays at the end of the game can make a difference.”

Tage Thompson gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 2:01 of the first period when he collected a loose puck in the slot and beat Demko inside the left post.

Ryan McLeod buried a wrist shot off a feed from Tuch on a short-handed 2-on-1 rush to make it 2-0 at 11:24.

“We’ve killed a lot together over the last two years now,” Tuch said. “Always looking for that, especially when you face a power play. Sometimes there’s only one defenseman out there, so you've got guys that are thinking about offense so you may be able to jump them. … If we catch them cheating, we can capitalize on them. We know we have the skill to do so, but we don’t try to sacrifice defense to do that.”

Tuch pushed it to 3-0 at 9:37 of the second period, taking Byram’s backhand cross-crease pass at the back door and quickly putting it past Demko, who couldn’t get over in time.

Zach Metsa scored his first NHL goal to put the Sabres ahead 4-0 at 6:13 of the third period. The defenseman, who was playing in his 12th NHL game, jumped up to the right circle and put a wrist shot to the far side.

“Crazy feeling,” said Metsa, who signed his first NHL contract in the offseason after playing two seasons on an American Hockey League contract with Rochester, Buffalo’s affiliate. “It’s something you’ve dreamed about since you were a little kid.”

DeBrusk cut it to 4-1 from in front on the power play at 10:17.

Pettersson spun and scored on a wrist shot from the slot at 15:16 to narrow it to 4-2, and Ohgren pulled Vancouver to within 4-3 just 39 seconds later, beating a screened Luukkonen through the five-hole from the left circle.

That prompted Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff to call timeout.

“All I said is, ‘We’ve been in this position a lot of times already and we’re going to be in it a lot more times. Just play our game,’” Ruff said. “… I thought the execution after that was pretty good, and they were putting some heat on.”

Josh Doan scored an empty-net goal at 18:36 for the 5-3 final.

“We started OK, and then when the two (first goals against) went in, I’d like to see us calm down a little bit,” Vancouver coach Adam Foote said. “I’d like to see our leadership group grab that a little quicker rather than let it linger like it did. Usually we’re better about that.”

NOTES: Tuch’s assist was his 14th career short-handed point with Buffalo, tying Christian Ruuttu and Richard Smehlik for 10th in Sabres history. … Metsa (27 years, 79 days) is the third-oldest defenseman in Buffalo history to score his first career goal, behind Ethan Prow (29 years, 42 days on Dec. 29, 2021) and Rory Fitzpatrick (28 years, 35 days on Feb. 15, 2003).