Sabres' road trip ends with loss in Carolina

RALEIGH, N.C. – Dylan Cozens expressed confidence in the Buffalo Sabres’ ability to find consistency following a 6-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes inside PNC Arena on Saturday.

The Sabres fell to 10-12-2 with the loss, their second in a row since defeating the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Monday. They were 10-13-1 after their first game of December last season, which ended with them in the thick of the playoff race

Despite the loss, only four points separated Buffalo from the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference following the game.

“We know the answers are in this room,” Cozens said. “We dominated many games last year and we haven’t quite found that yet. We don’t have that offensive swagger we had last year where we’re just going to go out and score goals – we’re not going to wait for them to make a mistake, we’re going to make our own scoring chance, we’re going to make something out of nothing.

“That’s what we did a lot last year. Lots of goals off the rush and lots of goals out of nothing, and we haven’t quite found that this year.”

The Hurricanes played to their own aggressive, up-tempo identity and pulled away with a run of five consecutive goals that began late in first period. Sebastian Aho and Jack Drury scored 50 seconds apart before the first intermission, both the products of plays on the rush.

Aho won a defensive-zone faceoff then dashed up the ice and scored as the third man in on the rush. Drury scored on his own rebound off a one-timer from in tight on the following shift.

“I felt like we had a good start right away and then I make a mistake on the faceoff and it’s in the back of the net, and then all of a sudden we’re down a couple of goals just like that,” Cozens said. “We’ve found ourselves down a lot to start games and it’s tough to chase like that. We know we need to be better right from the start and play a full 60.”

Carolina won the special teams battle to extend its lead during the second period, beginning just 1:06 in when Aho scored from the slot on the Hurricanes’ first power play of the night.

The Sabres drew overlapping penalties shortly thereafter to set themselves up with 4:49 of power-play time, including 49 seconds at 5-on-3. Carolina killed off the penalties and extended their lead to 5-0 with a goal on the rush from Stefan Noesen and a power-play goal from Teuvo Teravainen.

Casey Mittelstadt put the Sabres on the board in the third period, but the Hurricanes responded with a shorthanded goal by Brady Skjei. Tyson Jost added the second goal for Buffalo.

Both Cozens and Sabres coach Don Granato said the answer to finding consistency lies in competing with conviction, a trait they had in the win over the Rangers and in their 46-shot loss in St. Louis on Thursday.

“We need to go in and look at each game like this is our game, this is our game to win,” Cozens said. “We’re not going to give you guys a chance. We need to finish more checks, be harder to play against, stronger in puck battles, we need to kill plays in the defensive zone. We’ve got to be way harder to play against.”

Granato echoed Cozens’ confidence in the group’s ability to find it.

“I don't like the record,” Granato said. “Nobody likes to lose, obviously. But as far as being discouraged, this group here can do it. They'll get to greater consistency.”

Here are more notes from the game.

1. Jordan Greenway did not return for the second period due to an upper-body injury. The Sabres played the remainder of the game with 11 forwards, with Mittelstadt skating a team-high 24:03.

2. Eric Comrie started in goal and made 29 saves. The Hurricanes generated 45 scoring chances and 21 high-danger attempts, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Up next

The Sabres return home to host the Nashville Predators on Sunday. Tickets are available here.

The pregame show on MSG/MSG+ begins at 6:30 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 7. Radio coverage can be found on WGR 550.