(WGR 550) – The Carolina Hurricanes are the best defensive team in the NHL, yet in just over four periods, the Buffalo Sabres scored seven goals against them, outscoring them, 7-3.
You had to know that Rod Brind’Amour’s team would eventually show up, and they did on Thursday, turning a 3-1 second period deficit into a 5-3 win.
Buffalo had a 2-0 lead just 6:25 in, and what was impressive about that was Carolina was carrying the play. Despite that, Buffalo scored the first two times it entered the offensive zone, and didn’t get another shot on Antti Raanta until the 13:41 mark of the period.
That’s called being opportunistic.
Instead of being the goal scorer, Jeff Skinner was the setup man to feed Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch for goals. In his last 13 games, Thompson now has nine goals and six assists for 15 points. In his last 10 games, Skinner has six goals and six assists for 12 points.
The Sabres didn’t get scored on during Carolina’s two power plays, but they did give up six shots. The Canes outshot the Sabres, 12-6, in the period, but while playing at 5-on-5, it was only 6-6.
Casey Mittelstadt put some very good work in along the wall and proceeded to set up and open Victor Olofsson to score a very timely second period goal. It was just 30 seconds after Sebastian Aho cut the Sabres' lead to 2-1.
Olofsson now has 10 goals in 18 games, while Mittelstadt has 10 points in 10 games.
What did the Sabres in during this game was two bad turnovers that gave Carolina two easy goals, and a habit we hadn’t seen in a while - Buffalo sat back with a 3-2 lead in the third and waited for Carolina to come to them. Thanks to that, the Hurricanes had a three-goal period.
It also marked the 11th time this season the Sabres have lost after entering the third period with the lead.
Friday’s opponent, the Florida Panthers, have lost once in 35 games when leading after two and it wasn’t in regulation time.
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If head coach Don Granato stays true to what he’s done all season, Dustin Tokarski will be in goal against the Panthers. He’s 7-10-5 this season with a 3.24 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage. Tokarski has surrendered 10 goals in his last two starts, and 13 in his last three. He’s 1-1-1 in those games.
Buffalo has lost all three games against the Panthers this season, and it’s been the second period in all three games that’s killed them.
It was Dec. 2 when Buffalo sprinted out to a 3-0 first period lead and led 4-1 when they chased Sergei Bobrovsky just 31 minutes into the game. By the time the second was over, Florida had scored three goals and outshot Buffalo, 21-6.
On March 7, Florida walked into Buffalo and ran the Sabres right out of the building with absolutely no resistance. In the second period of that game, the Panthers scored four goals and outshot the Sabres, 20-7.
Just this past Sunday, Buffalo had great effort and grit in the first and third periods, but you guessed it, lost because of their second period. Florida outscored the Sabres, 3-0, and outshot them, 22-8.
That means in three second periods this season, Florida has outscored Buffalo, 10-1, and outshot them, 63-21.
Spencer Knight has played all the minutes against the Sabres since Bobrovsky was pulled. He’s gone 3-0-0 with a 1.61 goals-against average and a .949 save percentage.
In three games, Jonathan Huberdeau has seven points against the Sabres, while Sam Reinhart and Aleksander Barkov each have five.
Huberdeau has set an NHL record for assists by a left winger with 76. That leads the NHL by eight over defenseman Roman Josi. Huberdeau is second in league scoring behind Connor McDavid with 102 points in 70 games.
Florida is second in the league with a points percentage of .743. Buffalo goes from playing the best defensive team in the NHL to the highest-scoring team in the league, averaging 4.16 goals per-game.
The Panthers are fresh off of beating the Toronto Maple Leafs, 7-6 in overtime on Tuesday. In that game, the Panthers overcame a four-goal deficit, which was the second time in four days the team did that. The Panthers have come-from-behind to win 24 times this season.
Florida doesn’t lose very often at home, and their .829 home points percentage is second in the NHL behind the Colorado Avalanche.
If anything is going to do the Panthers in during the playoffs, it will be their goaltending, which is average, at best. The Panthers are 14th in the league defensively, and will start the playoffs without their best defenseman, Aaron Ekblad.
Maybe this team can outscore their mistakes, but that’s hard to do against good teams in the playoffs.
Florida comes into this game on a five-game winning streak, and have won eight of nine games and 14 out of 17. They have 30 goals in their last five games.
Join Schopp and the Bulldog for pregame coverage starting at 6 p.m. ET.
