Carolina Hurricanes Lose Heartbreaker to Buffalo Sabres

A sloppy game in New York didn’t end how the visiting team wanted it to. The Carolina Hurricanes fell to the Buffalo Sabres by a 3-2 score in overtime.

A heartbreaking loss in Buffalo will put a sour taste in the mouth of the Carolina Hurricanes, but they picked up a big point, keeping them in the thick of the playoff race.

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Scoring Summary

1st Period

No Goals

2nd Period

CAR Goal (6:42) – Phil Di Giuseppe (6), assisted by Jeff Skinner (18)

The Canes struck first. Skinner came in and drove the front of the net, and Di Giuseppe trailed behind and was able to roof the rebound in past Johnson.

BUF Goal (7:52) – Marcus Foligno (9), assisted by Brian Gionta (17)

Just over a minute after the Canes made it 1-0, the Sabres tied it. Ward made a questionable decision to play a puck instead of covering it, and then Michal Jordan turned the puck over in the middle of the ice, and the Sabres were able to take advantage of two ugly mistakes.

3rd Period

BUF Goal (4:56) – Jack Eichel (21), assisted by Sam Reinhart (15), Evander Kane (13)

Reinhart received the puck in the offensive zone with speed, and he was able to beat Salvin and hit Eichel with a cross-crease pass, and Eichel made no mistake putting it into the open net.

CAR PPG (9:01) – Victor Rask (16), assisted by Riley Nash (12), Elias Lindholm (25)

A big scrum in the corner led to Carolina gaining possession in the offensive zone, and Nash fed the puck down low to Rask as he swooped across the front of the net, and then he roofed it on the backhand past a sprawling Chad Johnson.

Overtime

BUF Goal (4:59) – Jack Eichel (22), assisted by Evander Kane (14)

In the final seconds of overtime, the Sabres defeated the Hurricanes. All three Canes players got caught deep in the offensive zone, and Kane flipped it out the Eichel who beat Ward on the breakaway.

Three Stars

1st Star – Jack Eichel, C (BUF) – 2 goals, +1, 4 shots, 21:34 TOI

2nd Star – Sam Reinhart, C (BUF) – 1 assist, 1 shot, 19:50 TOI

3rd Star – Marcus Foligno, LW (BUF) – 1 goal, +1, 3 shots, 3 hits, 16:21 TOI

Recap

It was far from an ideal hockey game in Buffalo for the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday, and it ended with a heart-breaking 3-2 overtime loss.

The Canes and Sabres were both sloppy in the opening frame. Missed passes, neutral zone turnovers, and very little established zone time was the name of the game in the first period.

That made way for a more open second period, leading to goals from either club, 1:10 apart from each other, and the third period brought a lot of the same, another even period, featuring a goal from both teams, led to the overtime period.

Carolina Hurricanes

Differing from each of Carolina’s last three overtime periods, the extra frame on Saturday was very slow paced and tight checking. There were limited opportunities, which made Ryan Murphy‘s shot that went wide of the net from the slot with under a minute to go even more painful. At the tail end of that shift, all of Carolina’s players got caught deep, which led to a big breakaway goal from rookie Jack Eichel to win it.

Shining for the Hurricanes once again was Jeff Skinner. Skinner finished with three shots and a game-high three takeaways on top of a second period assist. He continues to see more and more minutes, seeing 19:01 of ice time on Saturday.

The whole line of Skinner, Rask, and Di Giuseppe was dominant at times, producing the vast majority of Carolina’s scoring chances. Di Giuseppe continues to be a physical force on both sides of the puck. He stays consistent with throwing the body and driving the net to pick up dirty rebound goals.

Elias Lindholm also had a standout performance on both sides of the puck. He logged a game-high five shots on goal and an assist in 20:45 of ice time. On the defensive end, he won 70% of his faceoffs and made key defensive plays, including one on Jack Eichel in the overtime period.

It was a mixed bag for the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday. They were a +1 with their special teams, keeping Buffalo at bay on all four penalty kills, and they saw good performances out of key players like Skinner and Lindholm. On the flip side of that, they were choppy with and without the puck, and they made some big mistakes in their own end and at the end of overtime.

Next: Carolina's Future is Very Bright

The Carolina Hurricanes will take the next two days off prior to traveling to the nation’s capital to take on the Washington Capitals.