The Hurricanes, the No. 1 seed in the Metropolitan Division and in the East, will have home-ice advantage in the best-of-7 series against the Sabres, the No. 1 seed in the Atlantic Division, or the Canadiens, the No. 3 seed in the Atlantic. That series is tied 1-1 with Game 3 in Montreal on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, ESPN).
Carolina is 8-0 in the playoffs and has allowed a total of 10 goals. They are the fifth team in NHL history to begin a playoffs with eight straight wins, and the first since the Edmonton Oilers in 1985 (9-0).
Forward Taylor Hall leads the Hurricanes in the playoffs with 12 points (three goals, nine assists). Forward Jackson Blake has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) and forward Logan Stankoven has seven goals. Defenseman K'Andre Miller has six assists.
Goalie Frederik Andersen has started all eight games, going 8-0 with a 1.12 goals-against average, .950 save percentage and two shutouts.
The Hurricanes went 2-1-0 against the Sabres in the regular season. Forwards Andrei Svechnikov (two goals, two assists) and Sebastian Aho (one goal, three assists) each had four points, and forward Seth Jarvis had two goals.
Andersen allowed three goals on 20 shots in his only start, a 4-1 loss on Nov. 23. Backup Brandon Bussi allowed one goal on 18 shots in a 2-1 win on Jan. 19, and Pyotr Kochetkov made 19 saves in a 6-3 win on Nov. 8.
Forwards Alex Tuch and Tage Thompson each had three points (two goals, one assist) against the Hurricanes in the regular season, and forward Ryan McLeod had three assists.
Alex Lyon lost his only start, allowing four goals on 33 shots in the 6-3 loss. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was 1-1-0 with a 1.53 GAA and .949 save percentage in two games.
The Hurricanes and Sabres have played once in the playoffs with Carolina winning in seven games in the Eastern Final in 2006.
The Hurricanes went 0-3-0 against the Canadiens this season, getting outscored 15-8. Aho had six points (two goals, four assists) and Svechnikov had five points (two goals, three assists). Forward Nikolaj Ehlers had four points (two goals, two assists).
Andersen was 0-2-0 with a 3.73 GAA and .806 save percentage, and Bussi was 0-1-0 with a 6.17 GAA and .727 save percentage.
Forwards Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki (three goals, two assists each), Juraj Slafkovsky (two goals, three assists) and Ivan Demidov (one goal, four assists) each had five points for Montreal against Carolina. Defenseman Lane Hutson had four points (one goal, three assists).
Jakub Dobes was 3-0-0 with a 2.67 GAA and .922 save percentage, allowing eight goals on 103 shots.
Carolina and Buffalo have played twice in the postseason with the Hurricanes winning each, the most recent, in six games in the Conference Quarterfinals in 2006.
