Raleigh, North Carolina (WGR Sports Radio 550) - Entering tonight, it had been over nine years since the Buffalo Sabres had beaten the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh. After tonight, it's now been over nine years plus one day. The blue and gold were doubled up inside Lenovo Center on Saturday evening.
Five-minutes into the affair, it was Carolina that opened the scoring. Hurricanes forward Andrei Svechnikov broke up a play in his defensive end, and led the charge the other direction.
Svechnikov shrugged off some pressure as he worked towards the middle, and fed linemate Sebastian Aho who was streaking up the left wing. Aho beat Alex Lyon on the blocker side to make it 1-0 Carolina.
The Sabres didn't spend much time trailing, though. 3:18 later, Owen Power found some available ice in the slot, and sniped his second goal of the campaign with help from Noah Ostlund. Ostlund emerged from a battle in the corner before locating Power in a high-danger area.
Four-and-a-half minutes into the middle stanza, Carolina re-claimed the lead. Fittingly, it was on a Hurricanes powerplay, a unit that ranks an NHL-worst 32nd at just 10.8%. The man advantage, headlined by Svechnikov, solved the NHL's best penalty-killing team (91.3%) and made it a 2-1 contest with a one-timer from the right-wing circle.
The Hurricanes extended it a multi-goal lead seven-minutes later. In typical Rob Brind'Amour fashion, his Carolina team suffocated just about every Sabres chance with heavy forecheck and good positioning, all paired with timely capitalization with the puck on their sticks. In this instance, it was forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi in the spotlight, as his goal pushed it to a 3-1 affair in the second.
Early in the third, former Sabres forward Eric Robinson then did some damage and pushed the lead to 4-1. It was a mere 29-seconds into the final period of regulation when Robinson netted what appeared to be the dagger.
Buffalo showed fight, albeit late, and potted consecutive goals of its own within the next six-and-a-half minutes of play. Finally seeming to solve the Carolina defense, it was Alex Tuch and Tage Thompson, respectively, who dialed up the pressure to suddenly make it just 4-3 Hurricanes with some time left on the Sabres' side.
Unfortunately for the blue and gold, what time was left was not on their side. The Hurricanes added two empty-net goals in the waning moments to put the finishing touches on the 6-3 loss for the Sabres.
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SCORING SUMMARY:
First Period:
BUF: 8:18 - Owen Power (2) (Noah Ostlund)
CAR: 5:00 - Sebastian Aho (5) (Andrei Svechnikov)
Second Period:
BUF: NONE
CAR: 4:34 - Andrei Svechnikov (4) PPG (K'Andre Miller, Nikolaj Ehlers); 11:39 - Jesperi Kotkaniemi (2) (Joel Nystrom, Taylor Hall)
Third Period:
BUF: 3:23 - Alex Tuch (6) (Tage Thompson); 6:49 - Tage Thompson (6) (Ryan McLeod, Alex Tuch)
CAR: 0:29 - Eric Robinson (4) (Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Charles-Alexis Legault); 17:56 - Seth Jarvis (9) ENG (Jordan Staal); 18:29 - Charles-Alexis Legault (1) ENG (Unassisted)
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Blue Star Home Services Three Stars of the Game:
1. Andrei Svecnhikov - CAR
2. Charles-Alexis Legault - CAR
3. Jesperi Kotkaniemi - CAR
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What's Next:
The blue and gold continue the road trip into Utah on Wednesday night, November 12 against the Mammoth. Puck drop at Delta Center is set for 9 p.m. EST with Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray on the call.