Carolina Hurricanes Still Full From Thanksgiving, Lose 4-1 in Buffalo

On the day after Thanksgiving, the Carolina Hurricanes traveled to Buffalo and fell to the Sabres by a score of 4-1.

Scoring Summary

1st Period

BUF Goal (8:57) – Josh Gorges (1), assisted by Rasmus Ristolainen (10), Jamie McGinn (4)

The Sabres got on the scoreboard first with a shot from Josh Gorges that beat Cam Ward short side. It wasn’t a particularly good shot, but it looked to change directions a couple of times before going past Ward.

2nd Period

CAR Goal (4:59) – Victor Rask (7), assisted by Eric Staal (10), Elias Lindholm (3)

Elias Lindholm forced a turnover in front of the net,  Eric Staal gathered the puck and shot quickly. Victor Rask was able to bury the rebound for the equalizer.

BUF Goal (12:24) – Jack Eichel (8), unassisted

Jack Eichel is showing why he was worth the 2nd overall pick in this years draft. Eichel forced a turnover in the neutral zone before carrying the puck into the Hurricanes zone, and beat cam ward from the right circle for his 8th goal of the year.

BUF Goal (19:37) – Brian Gionta (2), assisted by Matt Moulson (5)

In the last minute of the period, Gionta was able to swing momentum fully to the Sabres. Moulson gained the zone and shot the puck towards a streaking Gionta who beat ward with a tip in, again on the short side.

3rd Period

BUF Goal (6:36) – David Legwand (2), Assisted by Jamie McGinn (5), Tim Schaller (2)

David Legwand scored the lone tally in the final frame when he beat Eddie Lack from in front of the net. Sloppy passing by the defense led to a turnover behind the net.  McGinn found Legwand in front of the net where he made it 4-1 and sealed the game for the Sabres.

Summary

The Carolina Hurricanes came into Buffalo on Black Friday and fell to the Sabres 4-1 and ended their 3 game point streak. Coming off a successful three games in four nights, the Canes were looking to extend their point streak to four games.

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The Hurricanes came out very strong in the 1st period and out shot Buffalo 11-3. The brightest spot for the Hurricanes have to be the young defense.  It seemed like every 2 minutes the announcers were calling Jaccob Slavin’s name for something positive.  The combination of Slavin and Hanifin not only proved to be solid defensively, but they contributed heavily to the offense.

Hanifin looked solid all game, and is impacting games in many ways that don’t show up on the scoresheet. He is really seeing the ice well for a rookie, and in the first two periods alone created 5 scoring chances. The most impressive part about about his play so far is that he is not a liability defensively.  When he is on the ice it doesn’t feel like hes an 18 year old defenseman, there is stability and calmness.

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The first period was marked by long Hurricanes possessions in the Buffalo end. The lines of Nordstrom, Jordan Staal, Nestrasil and Skinner, Nash, Versteeg forechecked really well and put immense pressure on  the Sabres defense and goaltending.

The power play went 0-2 and still shows that if Faulk doesn’t score on the power play no one does. Both times the Carolina Hurricanes had the man advantage they couldn’t get much going.  It almost seemed like they were better off even strength during the game because the Sabres couldn’t ice the puck to stop the momentum.

The 0-2 performance wasn’t shocking, the Canes are last in the league while up a man.  It would be nice to see someone other than Faulk contribute to the power play team, and to see good puck movement in higher risk areas.

Where the Carolina Hurricanes really fell apart was goaltending.  After the first period the Canes only had 3 shots against but were trailing 0-1. At the time of the 3rd goal against, the Canes had only let up 14 shots. At the end of the game Cam Ward had a .786 sv% in two periods of action, and Eddie Lack had a .857 sv% in the 3rd period. Though the offense was only able to put up one point, the momentum drastically swung to the Sabres after the 2nd period.

If the goaltending doesn’t turn around it will be very though for the Carolina Hurricanes to climb the standings to earn a playoff berth.  The save percentage has to be over .900 day in and day out to give the team a chance to string together multiple wins. Night in and night out the Canes are out shooting opponents and still dropping points.

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The Carolina Hurricanes will get some much needed rest before they travel to MSG to play the New York Rangers on Monday night.