Thatcher Demko made 26 saves to lead the Vancouver Canucks to a 1-0 win over the host Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.
It was Demko’s fourth shutout this season and the seventh shutout of his career.
Sam Lafferty scored the only goal of the game. The Canucks have won five games in a row, all on the road.
SHOWED UP❗️
Thanks to your votes #Canucks fans, Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller, Thatcher Demko, and Brock Boeser are set to join Quinn Hughes at the 2024 #NHLAllStar game! pic.twitter.com/lJe8B1iIHk
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) January 13, 2024
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 22 saves for Buffalo. It was the first time the Sabres were shutout since Dec. 16.
Lafferty scored 2:05 into the second period, burying a rebound at the top of the Sabres crease. It was his 10th goal of the season.
There were two lengthy reviews in the second period. The first came at the beginning of the period when Brock Boeser appeared to score for the Canucks on a hard wrist shot, but the goal was overturned after an offside review. The second came minutes later when J.T. Miller appeared to elbow Sabres defenceman Rasmus Dahlin in the head, but Miller was only given a two-minute minor penalty for elbowing.
Sabres defenceman Mattias Samuelsson left the game with an upper-body injury in the second period and did not return. Samuelsson appeared to take a hit to the head from Canucks defenseman Filip Hronek.
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Buffalo’s best opportunity to score came 4:14 into the third period when Dylan Cozens fired a hard slap shot off the crossbar on the power play. JJ Peterka also had an opportunity with a slap shot from the slot with 1:13 remaining.
UP NEXT
Canucks: Visit Columbus on Monday.
Sabres: Host the San Jose Sharks on Monday. The game time was changed to noon after the Buffalo Bills playoff game was moved from Sunday to Monday at 4:30 p.m.
AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
Mark Ludwiczak, The Associated Press
