Hurricanes gain in Eastern race with win against Sabres

RALEIGH, N.C.-- The Carolina Hurricanes moved within two points of third place in the Metropolitan Division and padded their wild-card lead with a 4-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres at PNC Arena on Saturday.

Curtis McElhinney made 35 saves for the Hurricanes (39-25-7), who lead the Columbus Blue Jackets by one point and the Montreal Canadiens by four for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
Carolina is 8-2-1 in its past 11 games and trails the Pittsburgh Penguins by two points in the division. They play Tuesday.
WATCH: [All Sabres vs. Hurricanes]
"It feels good," McElhinney said. "Everybody's doing their job. It's a critical time of year, and it's been fun being in that conversation and keep picking up points. Huge effort by everyone."
Jeff Skinner scored for the first time in 14 games for the Sabres (30-32-9), who had been shut out in their three previous games. Buffalo has lost seven in a row and is 2-11-2 in the past 15 games. Linus Ullmark made 25 saves.
Skinner made it 1-0 at 2:18 of the first period when he brought the puck from behind the net and tucked it between McElhinney's legs. His 37th goal tied his NHL career high, set with Carolina two seasons ago.
"When you're having trouble putting one in, I think sometimes you need to get a bounce or a lucky one," Skinner said. "We had some pretty good looks after that and again just couldn't seem to get that second one."
Lucas Wallmark tied it 1-1 at 13:52. After Jordan Martinook's shot trickled through Ullmark's pads, Wallmark moved into the crease to tap in the loose puck.

"I think it gave us a reset," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "We were on our heels there to start and (the Sabres) were flying. From then on, we had a pretty good period and got things at least going in the direction we needed to."
Carolina took a 2-1 lead at 1:07 of the second period when Andrei Svechnikov scored off a cross-ice pass from Teuvo Teravainen.
McElhinney was particularly strong in the second period, making saves on backhands by Alexander Nylander and Evan Rodrigues.
"We were running around, especially in the second for whatever reason," Brind'Amour said. "We lost a lot of coverages and he had to come up with some big saves. It just settles the game."
Justin Williams' shot from the left side boards scored inside the left post to give the Hurricanes a 3-1 lead at 17:09.
"It was just a bad goal, that's it," Ullmark said.
Jordan Staal's backhand from between the face-off circles made it 4-1 at 15:46 of the third period and gave him 500 NHL points (213 goals, 287 assists in 882 games).

Zemgus Girgensons scored from above the right circle with 1:01 remaining to make it 4-2. It was his first goal since Dec. 11 (33 games).
"Just off the rush, we were driving hard to the net," Sabres coach Phil Housley said. "We got some second and third opportunities, but that's just not flowing for us right now. We've just got to continue to grind it out."

They said it

"I'm trying my best out there, but it isn't enough. I'm not happy with the way I'm playing lately. The boys are trying their best to create scoring opportunities and I let the guys down tonight. That's just how it is." -- Sabres goalie Linus Ullmark, who is 1-7-0 in his past eight games
"There are some key leaders, but everyone in the room is able to lead and contribute. Obviously, we have a young team, so we have some young leaders as well. You can pick a few who have led this team the whole year. It's been fun to be a part of." -- Hurricanes forward Jordan Staal

Need to know

The Hurricanes have won nine in a row against the Sabres. ... Skinner has scored four goals in three games against the Hurricanes this season. He was drafted by Carolina in 2010 and played eight seasons for them before being traded. ... Twelve players had one point for Carolina. ... McElhinney tied his NHL high with his 28th start, set with Columbus in 2014-15. ... The Hurricanes are 11-3-1 in the second of back-to-back games. They lost to the Blue Jackets 3-0 on Friday.

What's next

Sabres: Host the St. Louis Blues on Sunday (5 p.m. ET; NHLN, MSG-B, FS-MW, NHL.TV)
Hurricanes: Host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; TVAS, FS-CR, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV)