Canucks vs Sabres preview: Vancouver begins extended road swing in Buffalo

The Vancouver Canucks begin the longest road trip of their season Tuesday night with a matchup against the Buffalo Sabres, a team that has surged up the standings in recent weeks.

Vancouver enters the game after playing several tight contests, with three of its last four games requiring overtime.

The Canucks will look to maintain their strong five on five play as they face a Sabres team that recently snapped a 10 game winning streak with a loss to Columbus.

One bright spot for Vancouver has been a newly formed forward line featuring Elias Pettersson, Jake DeBrusk and Linus Karlsson.

In just over 18 minutes of ice time together, the trio has controlled nearly 80 percent of shot attempts and has yet to allow a scoring chance against.

“Yeah, we’re just trying to become connected,” said Pettersson.

“All three of us come with speed through the neutral zone. So, it’s not one guy coming with speed and two guys standing still on the far blue line. It’s easy to play with them, and I’m just trying to do my part.”

Buffalo enters the game with a 21-15 4 record, strong penalty killing numbers and plenty of offensive talent led by Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin.

“They’ve been hot. They’re a desperate team. They got a lot of skill and a lot of speed. I feel like, whenever you play Buffalo, it can turn into a track meet, and they’re very good at that,” said Canucks defenceman Marcus Pettersson.

“We’ve got to keep the game simple and force them to defend down low.”

Tuesday’s game starts at 4:00pm PT.