Sebastian Aho scored the game-winning goal for Carolina with 5:15 remaining in regulation, followed by an empty-net tally from Joakim Nordstrom with 40.9 seconds on the clock. Justin Williams also scored a goal to put Carolina on the board late in the second period.
To Housley's point, the Sabres saw several chances of their own go unfulfilled throughout the night. Jordan Nolan and Johan Larsson were unable to convert on breakaways, while Kyle Okposo and Jack Eichel both saw point-blank opportunities stopped by Carolina goalie Scott Darling.
The Hurricanes, meanwhile, capitalized when given the opportunity. Williams scored after exiting the penalty box upon the conclusion of a Buffalo power play, carrying the puck on a 2-on-1 rush until he faked a pass across the net, stepped back and shot across the body of Sabres goalie Chad Johnson.
Aho's goal came after a puck bounced over defenseman Justin Falk's stick in the defensive zone, freeing the Carolina forward with a clear path to the net.
Johnson ended his night having allowed two goals on 32 shots.
"They flipped the puck," Falk said. "When I went to go pick it up it had landed and I thought it had settled enough to trust picking it up with my stick. Soon as I went to go for it, the puck went over. Bad break."
The loss marked the fourth time in five games that Sabres managed to score just one goal. Part of their struggles, Kane said, has been their inability to execute on scoring chances. The other part has been their lack of shots.
On Saturday, the Sabres didn't register a shot until Kane lofted a wrister on goal with 2:36 remaining in the first period.
"We've had our chances, but we definitely need to generate more offense," Kane said. "As a team, a lot of that has to do with execution, a lot of that has to do with taking the puck to the net instead of playing along the perimeter. I think we play along the perimeter way too much."
Housley also cited the fact that Carolina blocked 14 of Buffalo's shots as part of their problem generating offense. Fixing that, he said, will come from a willingness to shoot from everywhere in the offensive zone.
"To get more shots you've just got to get them through," he said. "We talked about being a shot mentality team and give them credit, they blocked a lot of shots. Our D have to do a better job of finding lanes and delivering pucks to the net. We have to shoot pucks form everywhere."
With the loss, the Sabres are now winless in their last five games at 0-3-2.
"It is testing my patience," Housley said. "I thought the last game in Detroit was really the end of my wick as far as being patient and making some adjustments and addressing that … I still feel that we're not all on the same page and we're going to continue to work on that."
