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Showing no signs of tanking, Sabres beat Canucks

Feb 27, 2015 - 3:15 AM Buffalo, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Torrey Mitchell tallied twice while Brian Gionta picked up a goal and two assists as Buffalo doubled up Vancouver, 6-3, on Thursday.

Andrej Meszaros, Chris Stewart and Brian Flynn also lit the lamp with Matt Moulson adding a pair of helpers for the Sabres, who have won two in a row ahead of a five-game road trip.

Michal Neuvirth came up with 28 saves.

Shawn Matthias, Jannik Hansen and Daniel Sedin supplied offense for the Canucks, who lost for the third time in their last nine contests.

Eddie Lack took the loss after allowing five goals on 23 shots for Vancouver, which ended its own road swing with a 3-2-0 mark.

Mitchell put the hosts back on top when he flipped a Gionta rebound home on the backhand from the right side of the crease at 12:43.

The Sabres picked up an insurance goal just as Lack left his crease to try and get to the bench for an extra attacker. Stewart's try toward the newly vacant cage was sticked away by Lack but Flynn netted the rebound with 1:32 to play.

Once Lack was pulled again, Gionta hit the empty net in the final seconds.

Mitchell tapped in a feed from Moulson on a give-and-go through the Vancouver zone and the hosts were on the board with 6:53 left in the first.

Matthias evened things only 62 seconds later, and the Canucks forged ahead on a Hansen marker at 5:42 of the second. Stewart knotted the score just shy of the nine-minute mark.

Meszaros gave Buffalo a 3-2 lead at 4:46 of the third with a heavy shot from the left wing, but Sedin countered for the visitors on a turnaround shot from the right circle with 7:27 elapsed.

Game Notes

Buffalo begins its sojourn against the Panthers on Saturday and Vancouver returns home to welcome St. Louis on Sunday ... Prior to the contest, the Sabres placed forward Zemgus Girgensons on injured reserve and recalled forwards Zac Dalpe and Phil Varone from Rochester of the AHL.