Kulich puts up three points, Buffalo Sabres come back to top Vancouver Canucks 3-2

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- — Jiri Kulich had a goal and two assists and the Buffalo Sabres rallied to beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 on Tuesday night.

JJ Peterka also scored and had an assist for the Sabres, while Tage Thompson scored his team-leading 21st of the season. Rasmus Dahlin registered two assists.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 32 shots for a Buffalo side that was coming off a 6-4 loss to the Kraken in Seattle on Monday.

Elias Pettersson and Phillip Di Giuseppe — with his first of the season — scored for the Canucks, and Thatcher Demko made 23 saves.

Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers served the first game of the three-game suspension he was handed for cross-checking Oilers blueliner Evan Bouchard in the face late in Vancouver’s 3-2 win on Saturday.

Takeaways

Canucks: With Myers out of the lineup, Mark Friedman returned from the American Hockey League’s Abbotsford Canucks and played his first NHL game since Dec. 14. He was paired with captain Quinn Hughes and registered 15:01 in ice time.

Sabres: Veteran winger Jason Zucker was sidelined by illness after contributing a goal and an assist in Seattle on Monday. Buffalo opted to go with 11 forwards and seven defensemen in Vancouver.

Key moment

Dahlin snapped a pass across the faceoff circle to Peterka and the winger blasted a shot in under Demko’s pads for the winning goal at the 13:33 mark of the third period.

Key stat

Vancouver has not won two games in a row since Dec. 1. The team is 7-9-7 since.

Up next

The Sabres visit the Flames on Thursday. The Canucks visit the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday.

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