VANCOUVER -- After being shut out in their past two games on home ice, the Vancouver Canucks found a tonic for their offensive struggles at Rogers Arena: a visit from the struggling Buffalo Sabres.
Bo Horvat scored with 24 seconds left in the first period, and Yannick Weber and Nick Bonino had power-play goals 2:36 apart early in the second to lead the Canucks to a 5-2 win Friday.
Chris Higgins and Radim Vrbata, into an empty net, added third-period goals and goalie Ryan Miller, playing against his old team for the first time, made 20 saves to help Vancouver (27-17-3) snap a two-game losing streak.
Chris Stewart scored twice for last-place Buffalo (14-33-3), which has lost 14 straight games, all in regulation. It's the longest losing streak in the NHL since 2003; the Sabres are three shy of matching the NHL record set by the expansion 1974-75 Washington Capitals and matched by the second-year San Jose Sharks in 1992-93.
Playing for the second straight night on the road, the Sabres gave goaltender Matt Hackett his first NHL start since he blew out his knee in the second-to-last game last season, requiring major surgery. Hackett made 33 saves but it wasn't enough to prevent the Sabres from finishing 0-12-0 in January, the worst pointless month in franchise history.
Stewart opened the scoring on a power play four minutes into the first period by stopping a shot in the crease right in front of Miller and making a nice move to pull the puck from his backhand to his forehand and around the goalie's left pad before lifting it in. It was the fifth straight game that the Sabres have scored the first goal.
Hackett, who returned to the American Hockey League Jan. 10 and played three games there, kept the Sabres ahead with a remarkable save off Shawn Matthias on the backdoor, reaching back with his stick to take away the empty net from the open Canucks forward.
Horvat finally put Vancouver on the board late in the first period, ending the Canucks' scoreless drought on home ice at 195 minutes, 57 seconds. Hackett stopped Zack Kassian on a wraparound attempt and sprawled to his right to get a piece of Horvat's rebound attempt on the far side. But the puck bounced off the back of his leg and trickled towards the goal line before Horvat stuffed it in.
Weber put the Canucks ahead when the Sabres misplayed a power-play rush 1:43 into the second period. Weber was somehow left alone trailing a 3-on-4 rush, cutting into the hash marks for a shot that deflected off the stick of sliding Sabres forward Matt Ellis and beat Hackett just inside the far-side post past his outstretched blocker.
Bonino, who was added to the top power-play unit this week amid a 2-for-28 funk, batted a loose puck out of the air at the side of the net past Hackett to put Vancouver ahead 3-1 on the next power play.
Stewart closed the gap with his second goal - and fourth in the past four games after going nine without scoring - on a power play with 5:44 left in the period. With Canucks captain Henrik Sedin off for high sticking, Stewart's cross-crease pass from the goal line bounced off the leg of Canucks defenseman Dan Hamhuis and past Miller.
It was the third power-play goal surrendered by the Canucks' top-ranked penalty kill on six chances in the past two games, matching the number given up on 44 chances in the previous 12 games.
Miller, who played parts of his first 11 seasons in Buffalo with before being traded to the St. Louis Blues late last season and signing in Vancouver as a free agent in the summer, kept the Sabres from adding a third power-play goal by throwing out his left pad to stop forward Drew Stafford in alone late in the second period.
Higgins extended the lead after another Buffalo power play ended early with a Stafford high-sticking penalty. With the teams skating 4-on-4, Canucks defenseman Chris Tanev was alone in the slot, but passed to Higgins on his right, leaving him an open net for his first goal in 12 games.
Buffalo center Cody Hodgson, who was picked 10th by the Canucks in the 2008 NHL Draft before being traded to the Sabres for Kassian at the 2012 Trade Deadline, was a surprise healthy scratch. The Sabres dressed an extra defenseman instead of Hodgson, who has two goals, seven points and a minus-21 rating in 48 games this season.
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