The Buffalo Sabres traveled to Carolina Tuesday night, in a back-and-forth contest that saw the home team win 3-2 in overtime.
The Buffalo Sabres offense started the game off quickly, leading the shots 6-1 early, before failing to record a shot for the final 13 minutes of the period.
The teams would both step up in the third, and force overtime in a close contest, before Carolina won the game in overtime.
1st period
Buffalo Sabres Tage Thompson made a slick pass across to defensemen Connor Clifton who was stopped by Hurricanes Anti Raanta.
Sabres Peyton Krebs then received a chance on the power play, but was also stopped on a great save made by Raanta.
The Sabres would then give Carolina a breakaway while on the man advantage, but goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made the stop to keep the game tied.
Carolina’s offense would start to apply pressure, and defensemen Tony DeAngelo would net his first of the season to put Carolina ahead on the power play 1-0.
Carolina would continue their offensive surge, but Luukkonen was able to keep it close at 1-0.
While Buffalo wasn’t able to score in the opening frame, they were able to hold Carolina to just one, as the two teams headed to intermission in a 1-0 game.
2nd period
The Sabres would start the second period by taking a penalty and giving Carolina a chance to increase their lead, but Buffalo was able to kill the penalty and keep it a one-goal game.
Shortly after the penalty, Sabres forward J.J. Peterka would make a great effort on a pass after falling, and teammate Alex Tuch would steal the puck and score on a crazy bounce to tie the game at one.
The Sabres would then get a 2-on-1 chance late in the period, but again Raanta was able to make a great save to keep it tied.
Further, Buffalo would also take a penalty on the play, and the team would head into the third period on the penalty kill.
3rd period
Buffalo would start the third by killing the penalty, but Carolina would keep up the pressure before defensemen Brady Skjei received a slick feed across the ice, and blasted a puck past Luukkonen, allowing Carolina to retake the lead 2-1.
Buffalo would then respond on the power play when defensemen Rasmus Dahlin he passed the puck to himself to tie the game at two.
Buffalo would then get a great chance to take their first lead, when Raanta made a play on the puck way out of his net, but was able to recover, making an impressive save to keep it tied.
Both teams offenses would begin to slow down, and the defenses stepped up as the teams remained tied through regulation.
Early in overtime, Carolina’s Sebastian Aho carried the puck in over the line and held the puck before finding fellow forward Martin Necas for the overtime winner to send Buffalo home with a loss.
Takeaways
The Sabres offense received some great chances over the night, but were ultimately held to just two goals thanks to great goaltending from hurricanes Anti Raanta.
Sabres Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen also made some impressive saves, but his great effort was not enough as Buffalo fell 3-2 in overtime.
With the loss Buffalo falls to 6-6-1 on the season, and will now gear up for their annual hockey fights cancer night at home against the Minnesota Wild on Friday.
