Sabres' comeback bid falls short in Carolina

RALEIGH, N.C. – A third-period comeback attempt by the Buffalo Sabres fell short in a 6-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at Lenovo Center on Saturday.

The Sabres trailed 4-1 following an Eric Robinson goal scored during the opening minute of the final period. They responded with goals scored less than seven minutes apart by Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch, cutting the Hurricanes’ lead to 4-3.

Buffalo continued to push for the tying goal from there, totaling 10 scoring chances in the period (according to Natural Stat Trick), but could not push another past goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov. Carolina tacked on two empty-net goals late to seal the victory.

“Honestly, all game I thought we worked extremely hard,” Thompson said. “We play like that, we’re gonna find ourselves on the right side of the game points-wise, winning those.”

The regulation loss was Buffalo’s second in a row following a seven-game point streak in which it went 3-0-4.

The Sabres were once again without five forwards who were in their opening night lineup, four of whom have spent time on the top line this season (Josh Norris, Zach Benson, Jiri Kulich, and Jason Zucker).

Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin also missed the game as he tends to a personal matter in Sweden. Jacob Bryson entered the lineup on defense in his place.

Despite the absences, the Sabres controlled play for portions of the first period, which ended with the two teams tied 1-1. Sebastian Aho opened the scoring for Carolina on an odd man rush 5:00 into the contest, but Owen Power responded with a goal from the slot less than four minutes later.

Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said he felt his team should have pulled ahead from there, pointing to chances for Thompson and Ryan McLeod alone in front of the Carolina net.

“I thought we hurt ourselves with missed nets early in the game,” Ruff said. “We had opportunities to make them pay for their mistakes.”

The Hurricanes outshot the Sabres 15-4 during the second period and pulled ahead on goals from Andrei Svechnikov and Jesperi Kotkaniemi. Svechnikov picked the near-side corner with a well-placed one-timer on the power play; Kotkaniemi buried another one-timer to finish a long shift in the Buffalo end.

“We got hemmed in the D-zone a couple times there,” Thompson said. “You get tired and it takes you a couple (shifts) to get your wind back, then you’re just trying to get the puck out to have energy to play offense. It gets you on your heels and that’s kind of what happened to us a little bit in the second.”

Alex Lyon stopped a pair of breakaways later in the period to hold the score at 3-1, and Conor Timmins nearly cut into the deficit with a shot that rang the post in the final seconds.

The Sabres came into the third period intent on being aggressive, which worked against them when Robinson got behind the defense and buried his breakaway backhand attempt to extend the lead to 4-1 during the opening minute.

Buffalo controlled play from there, however, scoring twice on the rush but ultimately falling short of a comeback.

“I think you look at that game as a whole, obviously the loss sucks,” Thompson said. “But I think you play that way as a group 82 games you’re gonna find yourselves on the right side of things.”

Here’s more from the loss.

A top-line change

The Sabres loaded up their first line for the game, with McLeod centering Thompson and Tuch. The trio spent their ice time matched almost exclusively with the Hurricanes’ shutdown line of William Carrier, Jordan Staal and Jordan Martinook.

Buffalo outscored Carolina 2-1 with McLeod’s line on the ice at 5-on-5 and held a 7-1 edge in scoring chances in those minutes, according to Natural Stat Trick.

The line’s two goals both came on the rush. The first saw Tuch speed down the right side and send a shot in off the far-side post; the second saw McLeod send a no-look drop pass to Thompson as the trailing man in the slot.

“We were trying to just get it out of our zone as quickly as possible,” Tuch said. “A couple of really good plays by guys to get the puck out of the zone and we were just trying to outskate them, put them on their heels and we were able to get some goals.”

Ostlund’s 1st assist

Noah Ostlund earned his first NHL assist on Power’s goal in the first period. After linemates Isak Rosen and Jack Quinn won the puck on the forecheck, Ostlund made an immediate pass from the half wall to set up Power in the slot.

Ostlund later made a similar play to set up a Bryson chance in the slot, but Bryson’s subsequent pass was broken up.

Up next

The Sabres continue their stretch of road games in Utah on Wednesday. Coverage on MSG begins at 8:30 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 9.