Raleigh, N.C. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - It was a natural disaster for the Buffalo Sabres at the Lenovo Center on Thursday in Raleigh, as the Carolina Hurricanes suffocated the blue and gold from start-to-finish in a 5-2 final.
The first period was completely owned by the home squad.
The Sabres were not up to par with the speed and pace the Hurricanes right out of the gate, and they paid the price with Carolina lunging out to a 3-0 lead before the game was 10 minutes old. Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal opened the scoring, whle Sebastian Aho and newcomer Mikko Rantanen added the other two goals.
After Aho's goal to make it 2-0, Hurricanes, Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff pulled Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in favor of James Reimer. The netminder made five saves on seven shots face in his 7:57 of action between the pipes.
Buffalo got a goal back inside the final minute of the opening period on a busted clearing attempt by Hurricanes defenseman Dmitry Orlov. Alex Tuch pounced on the whiffed puck, and picked his corner to cut the deficit to 3-1.
The second period was tame in contrast to the first.
Despite that, the Hurricanes still pounced on an opportunity late in the frame. Former Sabres forward Taylor Hall received a cross-crease pass and scored his first goal with the Hurricanes, set up by a failed zone exit from defenseman Bowen Byram moments earlier.
Just 75 seconds into the third period, the Sabres crept back to within two.
After a big stop from Reimer, Ryan McLeod and JJ Peterka flew the other way on a 2-on-1 to the Carolina net. McLeod fed Peterka, and the German-born winger deposited his 17th goal of the season to make it 4-2, Hurricanes.
The assist was McLeod's 31st point of the season, establishing a new career-high for the first-year Sabres forward.
That would be as close as the Sabres get for the rest of the game, though.
With 2:11 left to play, Hurricanes forward Seth Jarvis applied pressure on Tage Thompson, who tried to deke around Jarvis at the blue line with an extra attacker. Jarvis stripped possession from Thompson, and iced the contest with Carolina's fifth goal of the night into the empty net.
----------
SCORING RECAP
First Period:
BUF: 19:04 - Alex Tuch (21) PPG (Unassisted)
CAR: 6:09 - Jordan Staal (11) (Jordan Martinook); 7:57 - Sebastian Aho (21) (Mikko Rantanen); 9:41 - Mikko Rantanen (27) PPG (Andrei Svechnikov, Shayne Gostisbehere)
Second Period:
BUF: NONE
CAR: 15:52 - Taylor Hall (10) (Jack Roslovic, Sean Walker)
Third Period:
BUF: 1:15 - JJ Peterka (17) (Ryan McLeod, Jack Quinn)
CAR: 17:49 - Seth Jarvis (23) ENG (Unassisted)
----------
----------
Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Mikko Rantanen - CAR
2.) Taylor Hall - CAR
3.) Jesperi Kotkaniemi - CAR
----------
What's Next:
The Sabres head back to Buffalo for a home-and-home swing with the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night. Puck drop at KeyBank Center is set for 7 p.m. with Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray on the call.