"Talk about an adrenaline-filled day. Buffalo Sabres winger Thomas Vanek had a good excuse to skip the morning skate as his wife gave birth to twin boys at the noon hour Monday. A few hours later, he was skating all over the HSBC Arena rink in yet another solid performance.

It ended when Vanek helped pickpocket Vancouver defenseman Dan Hamhuis in front of the Canucks' goal late in overtime. Hamhuis' clearing attempt was intercepted by Tyler Myers, who walked in alone to pot the game-winning goal as the Sabres pulled out a stirring 4-3 victory.

"Any parent knows when new kids are born, it's awesome," Vanek said. "Just a fun day overall and to get a win in overtime again, it's a great day."

Ashley Vanek gave birth to Luka Robert (6 pounds, 12 ounces) and Kade Ashton (5 pounds, 12 1/2 ounces). They join 3-year-old Blake to make a full forward line.

Dad's line was humming Monday as Vanek, Derek Roy and Tyler Ennis combined for five points and a plus-8 rating. Vanek equaled his season high with seven shots -- five in the first period. His two assists give him six points in the last four games.

Vanek helped create the game's first goal when he outworked Andrew Alberts in the corner to the right of the Vancouver net and got the puck to Roy, who produced a feed in front to Ennis for the goal. Vanek also assisted on Steve Montador's goal in the second period and made the play on the winner, which is officially unassisted because he never actually touched the puck.

"It was a scramble in front and I saw the guy [Hamhuis] had it," Vanek said. "I don't know if he knew I was behind him so I picked the stick up and it went right to Tyler."

Vanek had been dancing through the Canucks zone on a pair of long shifts in the OT, at one point getting a huge head of steam in the neutral zone and nearly duplicating his game-winner from Saturday night's extra session against Washington.

"I thought Van played a heck of a game for us," said coach Lindy Ruff. "In overtime even for as long as that shift got for him, to come out and win a battle, come out of the corner again and take another crack at it was good."

The Sabres' offense got chugging in the overtime with seven shots on goal once they killed Cody McCormick's boarding penalty, which came with 1:21 left in regulation."