Sabres at Canucks
The Vancouver Canucks' path to a perfect record leaves a bit to be desired, even if the voyage spans a small sample size. Vancouver looks to get the early jump on the visiting Buffalo Sabres on Thursday after becoming the first NHL team in history to win its first three games of the season without holding a lead in regulation.
"We gotta stop doing that," center Bo Horvat said of the Canucks' slow starts out of the blocks. "It wears down on you. ... We've gotta jump out with the lead every once in a while." Horvat netted his second goal in as many games late in regulation in Tuesday's 2-1 overtime victory over St. Louis. While Vancouver has yet to enjoy a lead in regulation, Buffalo saw three separate ones go by the boards en route to a 4-3 overtime loss to Calgary on Tuesday. Ryan O'Reilly recorded his third goal in two contests with a power-play tally for the Sabres, who have scored with the man advantage in all three of their games this season.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, MSG-B (Buffalo), SN 360 (Vancouver)
ABOUT THE SABRES (1-1-1): Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen is paying immediate dividends on both ends of the ice after signing a six-year deal with an average annual value of $5.4 million against the cap. The 21-year-old Finn, who shares the team lead in points with O'Reilly (five), has collected five assists in three games and blocked four shots in each of his last two. Ristolainen has two career multi-goal performances in his young career, including one such effort versus Vancouver in a 3-2 win on Nov. 7.
ABOUT THE CANUCKS (3-0-0): Ryan Miller would have loved nothing more than to face his long-ime former team, but an issue with his abdomen will keep the 36-year-old in a backup role to Jacob Markstrom for Thursday's tilt. "It's not an injury, it's more a muscle that didn’t want to settle down, something in my alignment was off," Miller said. Markstrom has stopped 42-of-46 shots to win both outings this season, but suffered a setback in his last encounter with Buffalo despite yielding just two goals.
OVERTIME
1. Vancouver captain Henrik Sedin, who scored in overtime versus St. Louis, needs one assist to reach 750 for his career.
2. Sabres G Robin Lehner has started all three games this season, but has made just one relief appearance in his career versus the Canucks.
3. Buffalo RW Kyle Okposo (one goal, two assists) has hit the ground running with his new team and has eight points - all assists - in seven career encounters with Vancouver.