At The Final Horn | Third-period surge propels Sabres to 3-0-0 start

The Buffalo Sabres scored a pair of goals 23 seconds apart early in the third period to defeat the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 on Tuesday at KeyBank Center and propel the team to a 3-0-0 start.
Kyle Okposo scored the 200th goal of his NHL career and added an assist. Zemgus Girgensons also had a two-point night. Jeff Skinner and Tage Thompson scored the third-period goals that put Buffalo ahead. Rasmus Asplund scored an empty netter to seal the victory.
Craig Anderson made 32 saves to earn his second win of the season.

Bo Horvat and Justin Dowling scored for Vancouver. Thatcher Demko stopped 38 shots.
Buffalo is 3-0-0 to start a season for the fifth time in franchise history. The last Sabres team to win at least its first three games of the season was the 2008-09 club that won its first four contests.
They have now opened the season by earning at least a point in their first three games for the ninth time in team history.
Buffalo's power play went 0-for-3 while the penalty kill was a perfect 4-for-4. The penalty kill is 10-for-10 so far this season.

How it happened

The Canucks opened the scoring when Horvat one-timed a pass in the slot from Tanner Pearson past Anderson 5:57 into the first period.

Buffalo answered quickly when Okposo wristed one in from the right faceoff circle 1:25 later to beat Demko short side. Okposo now has two goals in three games.
Dowling had a breakaway with 6:44 left in the first but hit the post. He eventually got on the board with 3:59 remaining in the period when he deflected in a point shot by Luke Schenn. Vancouver went into the first intermission up 2-1.

Buffalo went on a four-minute power play with 6:31 remaining in the second period after Pearson caught Jacob Bryson with a high stick that drew blood. Just seconds after the penalty expired, Girgensons deflected in a shot from Okposo to tie the game.
Skinner gave Buffalo the lead 3:33 into the third period when his second-chance backhand went top shelf for his first goal of the season.

Thompson forced in a rebound in front to make it 4-2 just 23 seconds later.
According to @SabresPR, the time between Skinner's and Thompsons' goals was the shortest between goals since Skinner and Zemgus Girgensons scored 13 seconds apart on November 3, 2018.
Asplund added an empty-net goal with 2:55 left.

Roll the highlight film

Here's Skinner's go-ahead goal:

Worthy of a mention

• Okposo became the 56th U.S.-born players to reach the 200-goal mark and the 61st active NHL player to score 200 or more career goals.
• Rasmus Dahlin skated in his 200th NHL game.
• Equipment manager Dave Williams also hit a milestone with a 2 in it. He worked his 2,000th professional game on Tuesday.

Coming up

The season-opening four-game homestand concludes Friday night with a game against the Boston Bruins. Faceoff is set for 7 p.m. and will stream exclusively on ESPN+ (a subscription is required).
Tickets for the game are on sale now.