RALEIGH, N.C. – A fast start, a pair of two-goal leads and an edge after 40 minutes. All gone.
The Buffalo Sabres looked good for a sweep of their home-and-home series with the Carolina Hurricanes, but the Sabres simply weren't able to withstand the Canes' relentless pressure in the offensive zone. They also made too many poor decisions with the puck and paid the price for it.
Sebastian Aho's second goal of the game snapped a tie with 8:41 to go and the Canes went on to a 5-3 win Thursday night in PNC Arena.
A three-goal third period allowed the Metropolitan Division-leading Canes (46-17-8) to become the third NHL team to clinch a playoff spot this season. Carolina also reached the 100-point mark for the second time in its history. The other season was 2005-06, the year the Canes won the Stanley Cup after beating the Sabres in a seven-game Eastern Conference final.
The Sabres fell to 26-35-11 with just their second regulation loss in their last 11 games (6-2-3). The Sabres had won their last six games when leading after two periods. This was their 10th loss in those spots as they fell to 16-4-6.
"We need games like this with hopefully the pressure that was on us tonight," said coach Don Granato. "The atmosphere was outstanding, it was a playoff feel. And certainly a team that was extremely hungry for two points. We get one of their best games effort-wise and it's a game our guys can actually learn from."
The Sabres had a 3-2 lead through 40 minutes but Carolina tied it at 5:12 of the third period as Jordan Staal scored from the slot, beating Craig Anderson to the top corner off a pass from Brett Pesce. On the game-winner, Aho took a feed from Andrei Svechnikov, who had outworked Casey Mittelstadt behind the net, and chipped home a backhander past Anderson.
"They're coming hard. It's tough. We've got to make plays quick," said Victor Olofsson. "If you can stay calm and make plays, you can kind of beat that. I think we didn't quite manage tonight."
"That team had to play a whole 60 minutes or they weren't going to win that game," Granato said. "I do credit our guys for that. We're a developing team, an evolving team. And I know as a coach we had guys in there who got better."
The Sabres' top line was on its game from the opening faceoff and quickly got Buffalo into a 2-0 lead thanks mostly to super feeds on both goals from Jeff Skinner.
Tage Thompson opened the scoring at 3:49 with a quick snapshot from the right circle after Skinner got the puck to him from along the wall. It was Thompson's 32nd of the season. Alex Tuch got No. 10 with Buffalo at 6:25, tapping in a Skinner goalmouth pass from the left corner after of Carolina defenseman Brady Skjei to give the Sabres a 2-0 lead and stun the crowd of 15,639.
The Hurricanes got one goal back at 4:59 of the second as Aho connected after a Rasmus Dahlin turnover but Buffalo immediately answered 30 seconds later as Olofsson backhanded home his 17th of the season off a nifty Casey Mittelstadt feed.
It was not a great opening 25 minutes for Carolina backup goalie Antti Raanta. The Sabres had just two shots – but two goals – through 13½ minutes before Raanta made his first save. And the Olofsson goal gave the Sabres three goals on just seven shots.
Carolina started its comeback off a grievous turnover by Cody Eakin, who tried to flip the puck out of the zone up the middle. Tuevo Teravainen stopped the puck with his glove, put it down and fired a shot past Anderson at 16:39 to cut the deficit to 3-2.
Here are some other observations on the game:
1. The Thompson files I
It's four goals in the last four games for Thompson, who has 10 games left to push his goal total to 35 and perhaps even challenge 40 if he stays hot. All three players on the top line had two-point nights.
"He's a real great finisher," Skinner said. "He's got a great shot, he gets opening, he gets space. It's tough for other teams to contain and 'Tuchie' (Alex Tuch) had a great screen in front. It's tough on their goalie, so it's a good combination of both those guys."
2. The Thompson file II
The 6-foot-7 Thompson continues to struggle on faceoffs, going 0-7 in this one. Carolina dominated the circle in the game, 32-18, and Staal was a perfect 10 for 10.
"They struggled in the faceoff circle yet we were able to get pucks back and have a lot of possession," Granato said. "Usually when your faceoff percentage is like that, you're chasing the game the whole game but that wasn't the case. We were able to get pucks back but just some careless errors that their skill guys capitalized on."
3. Tough fall
Dylan Cozens took a hard fall into the end boards late in the second period and had to be helped to the locker room when the period ended without putting much weight on his left leg.
Cozens, however, returned to play in the third period. He was seen outside the locker room after the game walking with a slight limp so it bears watching if he will be able to play in a back-to-back Friday in Florida.
4. Next
The Sabres headed to the Sunshine State after the game, where they will spend the next three days. They meet the Florida Panthers on Friday night and play at Tampa Bay on Sunday. The Sabres are 0-3 against the Panthers this season and have given up 18 goals in the three games, including Sunday's 5-3 loss in KeyBank Center.
