Ristolainen, Sabres Spoil Ryan Miller’s Return in 3-2 Win

Few players can measure up to how popular Ryan Miller was during his time with the Buffalo Sabres, both for his play in uniform, and his contributions off of the ice.

Ryan Miller’s long-anticipated return to a place of former glory was not only spoiled in a last-minute 3-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon, the manner in which the Vancouver Canucks choked away at least a point left the goaltender more than a little miffed. “The way we played we deserved points in this building”. Nobody told that to Jack Eichel because he made it all about himself with the first two assists of his young National Hockey League career. He responded with a career-high save total in his third win in five starts.

The Sabres beat the Canucks 3-2 at the First Niagara Center as Vancouver began a seven-game road trip with its second straight loss. Miller made 19 saves.

“That’s a tough one”, Daniel Sedin said.

Now, he has the game winning goal for Saturday, as well.

“That was all Tyler Ennis”, Foligno said.

Higgins played in his second game after missing the first 11 games with a fractured foot sustained blocking a shot in the preseason opener.

“It’s hard to play the waiting game because you’re never quite sure of what you’re going to get”, Canucks coach Willie Desjardins said of his newbies.

“We’ve got to give them a chance to get better and I ran four lines all the way”. “It was good to see him rewarded with a goal”. He saluted the crowd during a video tribute during a first period in which the Canucks outshot the Sabres 15-4.

The Sabres were in a state of decline and transitioning toward a rebuilding mode that included changes in the front office and behind the bench, and Miller was beginning to have contentious sessions with the media.

McGinn tipped home a slap-pass from defenceman Mark Pysyk at 2:18. Perhaps Eichel’s two assists served as a passing of the torch from Miller to Eichel.

Roberto Luongo stopped 31 shots, including a breakaway by Lucic with 4:50 left in the second period to keep it tied 1-1. Daniel Sedin collected the puck on a backhand pass from Ben Hutton along the right board and sent a cross-ice pass to twin brother Henrik Sedin, who flipped a short shot over a sprawling Ristolainen and under Ullmark’s blocker.

He missed the Canucks’ visit to Buffalo previous year because of a knee injury. The Canucks scratched RW Adam Cracknell.