How the Buffalo Sabres fared against the Canucks in 2022-23
How did the Buffalo Sabres fare against their fellow 1970 expansion franchise? Let’s talk about their latest season series in 2022.
The Buffalo Sabres and Vancouver Canucks came into the NHL in the same season. In 1970, the National Hockey League awarded two cities NHL franchises. Those cities were Buffalo and Vancouver. Buffalo became the Sabres and Vancouver became the Canucks.
How did the Sabres fare against the Canucks? Vancouver hosted Buffalo for the first matchup in late October. The Canucks were looking to get their first win of the season while the Sabres were looking to go 4-1-0 on the young season.
At the end of the first period, Buffalo jumped out to a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Rasmus Dahlin and Alex Tuch. There was only one goal scored in the second period and it was the Canucks who cut the lead in half thanks to Conor Garland.
It would be the only goal for Vancouver as the Sabres scored three straight goals in the third period and cruised to a 5-1 victory over the Canucks. You would not have to wait long for the second and final meeting of the year that took place in Buffalo about a month later.
Buffalo Sabres, Canucks split season series in 2022
Coming into the game, Buffalo was 7-8-0 while Vancouver was 5-9-3. After a hot start in October, the Sabres cooled down to start November and were looking to avoid losing their sixth straight game. It did not start and end good for Buffalo.
Before the 10 minute mark of the first period, the Canucks had a 2-0 lead before Jeff Skinner got the Sabres on the board a couple of minutes after the second Vancouver goal. Just 31 seconds into the second period, Elias Pettersson gave the Canucks their two goal lead back.
A couple of minutes later, Skinner once again made it a one score game. Unfortunately for Buffalo, they took two penalties and Vancouver capitalized on both of them to make it 5-2 Canucks. Alex Tuch made it 5-3 and the score remained the same heading into the final frame.
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Despite Casey Mittelstadt making it 5-4, Buffalo could not tie the game up and they lost their sixth straight game on home ice. It was a frustrating loss for the Sabres and they went on to lose two more games after.
(Historical data provided by Hockey-Reference)