VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Elias Pettersson had two goals and an assist as the Vancouver Canucks moved atop the Western Conference standings with a 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night.

Conor Garland scored and Quinn Hughes and J.T. Miller each had a pair of assists for the Canucks who lead the West at 43-18-8, one point ahead of the Winnipeg Jets and Colorado Avalanche.

Vancouver goalie Casey DeSmith made 15 saves in his first victory since starter Thatcher Demko was sidelined by injury last week.

The Canucks have talked a lot recently about standing strong in the face of adversity.

“That’s all we’ve really talked about lately, that we’ve got to be the team that doesn’t go away,” Miller said. “We’ve got to be able to man up and respond. Things aren’t gonna go our way down the stretch here every day. We’ve got to understand that it’s gonna take a mentally tough group to win hockey games in the latter part of the season.”

Rasmus Dahlin scored twice for the Sabres, who were coming off a 6-2 win over the Kraken in Seattle on Monday. Buffalo fell five points behind the Detroit Red Wings, who hold the second wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference.

“We gave it our all. It’s a good team over there, (we’re on) back-to-backs, we played our (butts) off,” Dahlin said. “We should have scored when we had a chance on the power play. We had a ton of chances. It’s the little thing right now, so we got to be better.”

Devon Levi made his first NHL start since Jan. 24 and stopped 31 of 33 shots. He was recalled from the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League on Saturday. He said there was some pressure in taking the net when his team was fighting for a playoff spot.

“You can feel it a bit but that’s what makes it fun. That’s what makes this game meaningful,” Levi said. “Coming in, you know it’s a big game and the boys are relying on you and there’s no better feeling than having that on your back and being able to give everything you’ve got for the team in a special moment.”