Vancouver Canucks right wing Alexandre Burrows (14) celebrates with teammates after he scored a goal against the Buffalo Sabres during the second period at KeyBank Center.Kevin Hoffman
Alexandre Burrows scored a goal and got under the Buffalo Sabres' skin with his pesky play, lifting the Vancouver Canucks to a 4-2 win on Sunday night.
Burrows scored the go-ahead goal five minutes into the second period and also had an assist.
In the first period, Burrows slashed and shoved Buffalo goalie Robin Lehner, and Lehner retaliated with a shove. After the two were separated, Sabres defenceman Justin Falk took a high-speed run at Burrows and bowled him over.
Lehner, Falk and Burrows were penalized for roughing, and Vancouver's Bo Horvat scored on the ensuing power play by deflecting Ben Sutton's shot in.
Michael Chaput scored twice and Horvat added an assist, helping the Canucks to their second win in seven games. Jacob Markstrom stopped 26 shots filling in for starter Ryan Miller, who allowed four goals on 30 shots in a loss to Boston on Saturday.
Tyler Ennis and Kyle Okposo scored for Buffalo, and Lehner had 27 saves.
Vancouver got its 57th point, taking over sole possession of 10th place in the Western Conference and pulling within three points of eighth-place Los Angeles for the final wild card.
The inconsistent Sabres were unable to build on the momentum generated from a 3-1 win at Toronto on Saturday. Buffalo dropped to 3-5-1 in its past nine and hasn't won consecutive games since a 3-0 run from Jan. 20-24.
The Canucks took control with a two-goal second period to break a 2-2 tie.
Burrows broke the tie by converting Troy Stecher's pass into the slot, and then Chaput scored two seconds after Jake McCabe's hooking penalty expired for Buffalo. Alexander Edler set up Chaput's goal by faking a shot from the left point and instead sending a pass to Chaput, who got enough of the puck to direct it into the net from the right circle.
Chaput put Vancouver ahead 2-1 following Horvat's goal, but Okposo tied it by converting Rasmus Ristolainen's pass into the middle with 16 seconds remaining in the opening period.
Markstrom's best save came with 1:13 left when Buffalo pulled its goalie for an extra attacker and was also on the power play. After making an initial save, Markstrom slid across to his right and got his stick up to stop Sam Reinhart.
The Canucks converted just 1 of 6 power-play chances, but both of Chaput's goals came shortly after Buffalo's penalties expired.
Vancouver entered with the NHL's second-worst road record, which they improved to 8-17-3.