At the Horn | Hurricanes 5 - Sabres 2

The Buffalo Sabres were unable to overcome an early deficit in a 5-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at Lenovo Center on Thursday.

Jordan Staal, Sebastian Aho, Mikko Rantanen, Taylor Hall, and Seth Jarvis all scored goals for the Hurricanes, who opened the scoring with three goals in a span of 3:32 during the first period. Pyotr Kochetkov made 14 saves for the victory.

Alex Tuch and JJ Peterka scored goals for the Sabres. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made five saves on seven shots in 7:57 before giving way to James Reimer, who stopped 27 of 29 shots in relief.

Carolina - the NHL's best team in terms of shot-attempt percentage - led 36-16 in shots on goal.

The loss was Buffalo’s first in three games since returning from the 4 Nations Face-Off break. The Sabres entered the night having won six of its last seven games overall.

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Period

The Hurricanes jumped on the Sabres with three goals scored in a span of 3:32 early in the period and earned commanding leads in shots (18-2) and shot attempts (39-8).

Carolina’s first two goals stemmed from defensive-zone turnovers by the Sabres as they navigated the Hurricanes’ high-pressure attack. Jordan Martinook intercepted a pass along the wall and threw a shot toward the net, which Staal deflected past Luukkonen for the first goal at 6:09. Less than two minutes later, a rimmed pass behind the Buffalo net banked off Bowen Byram’s stick in the direction of Rantanen, who quickly fed Aho in front for the Hurricanes’ second goal.

Aho’s goal prompted the Sabres to replace Luukkonen with Reimer in goal, but the momentum continued to sway in the Hurricanes’ favor when Zach Benson was called for tripping just 1:07 later. Rantanen scored to make it 3-0 on the subsequent power play.

Buffalo salvaged the period after Carolina was called for too many men on the ice, which set the stage for Tuch’s power-play goal with 56 seconds remaining. Tuch intercepted a failed clearing attempt by Dmitry Orlov in the slot and, after he was stopped on an initial shot, chased a long rebound to the right circle and scored with Kochetkov well outside his crease.

Second Period

Reimer stopped a pair of dangerous chances early – a one-timer from Rantanen and a breakaway attempt by Eric Robinson – to hold the score at 3-1.

The Sabres had two power plays to try and cut the deficit to one but were unsuccessful on both. Hall extended the Hurricanes’ lead to 4-1 with 4:08 remaining, the product of another turnover near the Buffalo blue line.

Third Period

Peterka scored Buffalo’s second goal just 1:15 into the period, the end result of a 2-on-1 rush with Ryan McLeod. McLeod kept Kochetkov guessing as he carried the puck down the right side, then passed across to give Peterka an open net.

Carolina continued its stingy defensive effort the rest of the way and sealed the victory on Jarvis’ empty-net goal with 1:12 remaining.

HIGHLIGHTS

UP NEXT

The Sabres return home to host the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday. Tickets are available here.

Coverage on MSG begins at 6:30 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 7.