Hurricanes lose to Sabres, give up ground in Metropolitan

BUFFALO --The Carolina Hurricanes gave up ground in the Metropolitan Division with a 4-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Tuesday.

Nino Niederreiter had a goal and an assist, and Jordan Staal had two assists for the Hurricanes (45-17-8), who have lost two in a row and lead the New York Rangers by two points for first place in the division. Frederik Andersen made 18 saves.
"At the end of the day, that game was unacceptable the way we played," Niederreiter said. "We just never really found our game until the last period. And I mean, at the end of day, there's no easy win, no easy team to play against, and they play hard. We just took the game for granted and thought was it going to be an easy game, and that sure wasn't the case."
Victor Olofsson had a goal and an assist, and Craig Anderson made 32 saves for the Sabres (26-34-11), who are 6-1-3 in their past 10 games.
"I feel we're super confident as a group right now," Olofsson said. "Even when they scored at 2-2, we just kind of settled down a little bit and just kept it a little bit more simple. I think we turned a lot of pucks over there in the beginning of the third, and then just kept it more simple. Got pucks behind them again, like we did in the second."

Olofsson put Buffalo in front 3-2 at 12:08 of the third period. Rasmus Dahlin knocked down a clearing attempt near the blue line and passed to Olofsson, who scored from all alone in the right circle.
"I was fake pressuring the forward, he got kind of stressed, and I know he kind of wanted to get the puck out," Dahlin said. "That's a play I used to do. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, and today it worked. It was good that I batted it down and gave him the puck."
Dylan Cozens scored a power-play goal on a rebound near the left post at 15:11 for the 4-2 final.
Jesper Fast gave Carolina a 1-0 lead at 14:58 of the first period, taking a backhand pass from Niederreiter in the slot, deking Anderson and lifting a backhand top shelf.
Jeff Skinner tied it 1-1 at 1:21 of the second period. Tage Thompson intercepted Brady Skjei's pass attempt in the Sabres' zone to create a 2-on-1. He then faked a shot and slid a pass through Brett Pesce's legs to Skinner, who shot into an open net.
"That's the vision and talent of Tage," Buffalo coach Don Granato said. "He's a 30-goal scorer, he's staring right at the net, and he still has the presence to manipulate and make that play."
Casey Mittelstadt put Buffalo ahead 2-1 at 5:59 from the right circle.
"It's pretty obvious, pretty self-evident, we played just a terrible second period," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "Then you leave it up to chance. We played a good third. We came out hard and did everything. Had a great third, but it's too late. Leave it up to chance. We got what we deserved there."

Niederreiter tied it 2-2 at 4:10 of the third period off a pass from Staal from behind the net.
"It's disappointing just in general," Brind'Amour said. "I don't think it has anything to do with anything else. You don't like to see your team play that way any time. Even though, like I said, there was really good stretches in there, did some really good things, but too much not good enough. And it cost us."
NOTES:Staal earned his 600th NHL point with his assist on Fast's goal. … The Sabres defeated the Hurricanes for the first time since March 22, 2016 (0-7-4 in previous 11). … Skinner has scored six goals in six games against his former team. … Buffalo forward Kyle Okposo played in his 900th NHL game.