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Thursday, Mar. 16 10:00pm ET
Canucks move up at Sabres' expense | |||||
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BOX SCORE
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- After trading Alexander Mogilny to the New Jersey Devils, the Vancouver Canucks need production from a variety of sources to keep their slim playoff hopes alive. That's exactly what the Canucks got in their 6-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night. Markus Naslund had two power-play goals and Andrew Cassels added four assists as Vancouver improved to 4-1 in their last five home games. Brendan Morrison, Todd Bertuzzi, Mattias Ohlund and Mark Messier also scored for the Canucks. "You don't fill that spot that easily. A guy with that amount of skill is a top sniper," Naslund said of Mogilny, who had six goals in seven games before being traded Tuesday for Morrison and Denis Pederson. "We've got to take it upon all of us to fill that role." Naslund added a pair of assists as he and Cassels matched single-game career highs with four points. Dixon Ward, Doug Gilmour and Curtis Brown scored for the Sabres, who lost their second in as many nights to remain in 11th place in the Eastern Conference. "We were awful. We didn't pay a price to play defense at all," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "What, our team thinks we can score six goals a game now? When guys can stand there and have a second and third rebound, which isn't typical of our hockey team, you're in a lot of trouble. In our end, we were as soft as I've ever seen us." Ward gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead 3:05 into the first before the Canucks scored three straight. Morrison threw the puck at the net and it went off Sabres defenseman Jason Holland and past a surprised Martin Biron at 4:53 to tie it 1-1. "It was a lucky one, but I'll take it," joked Morrison, a native of nearby Pitt Meadows. "I had a lot of people here and obviously, growing up in the area and coming down and watching the Canucks, it doesn't get much better than this." Naslund scored at 7:14, and Bertuzzi with 39 seconds left in the first to make it 3-1. Brown pulled Buffalo within a goal 1:28 into the second, but Vancouver answered with three straight goals to take a 6-2 lead after two periods. Naslund scored his second of the game at 4:10 to make it 4-2. He took a nice feed from Cassels and waited for a diving Jay McKee to slide past him before roofing a wrist shot past a sprawling Biron. Ohlund scored a short-handed goal at 9:07 to make it 5-2, and Messier scored 1:11 later to make it 6-2. Gilmour scored on the power play at 7:04 of the third to finish the scoring. He added an assist, and has six points in his first three games with the Sabres. Gilmour's assist on Brown's goal gave him 873 in his career and moved into a tie with Phil Esposito for 14th place on the NHL career list. The Canucks outshot Buffalo 32-11 the first two periods, and 35-20 overall. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Buffalo Clubhouse Vancouver Clubhouse RECAPS NY Islanders 4 Atlanta 2
Vancouver 6
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