Canucks stay perfect with win over Sabres

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Jacob Markstrom made 26 saves and Daniel Sedin scored the game-winner in the third period Thursday night as the Vancouver Canucks downed the Buffalo Sabres 2-1.

With the victory, the Canucks (4-0-0) are the NHL's only undefeated team after Colorado blanked Tampa Bay 4-0 on Thursday.

Jannik Hansen had the other goal for Vancouver, which won its fourth straight game to open the season, tying a franchise mark set in 1992-93. Brandon Sutter had two assists.

Nicholas Baptiste scored his first NHL goal for Buffalo (1-2-1) while Robin Lehner stopped 18 shots.

The Canucks led 1-0 through two periods and stretched that lead to two at 9:10 of the third when their power play - 0 for 12 up to that point - finally connected. Lehner robbed Sutter at the side of the net, but Loui Eriksson fed a nice pass to Sedin, who buried his second.

After Buffalo's Ryan O'Reilly had a great chance that Alexander Edler swept off the goal line, Baptiste scored on a strange play. Baptiste threw the puck in front and it struck Vancouver's Jake Skille as he battled with Nicolas Deslauriers. The puck caromed toward Markstrom's net, off Edler's stick and in at 11:23. Deslauriers was originally given credit for the goal before it was changed.

The Sabres had a couple of looks from there, but a late too many men on the ice penalty took the wind out of their sails, and they were unable to find the range with Lehner out of the Buffalo goal for an extra attacker.

Markstrom, 3-0-0 on the season, made his second straight start in place of Ryan Miller, who served as the backup after sitting out last game with general tightness.

Following shootout and overtime victories in their first two games, the Canucks beat St. Louis 2-1 in OT on Tuesday to become the first team in league history to win its first three outings of a season while never holding a regulation lead in any of those games.

Vancouver was just 3-30-1 when trailing after 40 minutes last season, and each victory in 2016-17 before Thursday came after the club trailed through two periods. The Canucks didn't require a comeback Thursday after Hansen scored the 100th goal of his career at 11:10 of the second, the Canucks' first lead in 218:22 this season.

NOTES: The Sabres were once again without injured Fs Jack Eichel (ankle) and Evander Kane (ribs) as they wrapped up a three-game road trip through western Canada that also included a 6-2 win over Edmonton and a 4-3 overtime loss in Calgary.