The Carolina Hurricanes suffered a tough loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon. With one second left in sudden-death overtime, Sabres forward Jack Eichel raced in on a breakaway and beat Canes (31-26-12) starter Cam Ward on a backhand to lift the Sabres (28-33-9) to victory.
The Canes outshot the Sabres 30-24 in this game, as Buffalo starter Chad Johnson made several big saves.
Following a scoreless first period, Buffalo largely carried the play to start the second, but the Canes managed to survive, and it was Carolina who dented the scoreboard first about seven minutes into the period. Forward Jeff Skinner came in on a rush and was taken down, but forward Phil Di Giuseppe was able to clean up the loose change for his second goal in as many games.
Unfortunately for the Canes, the lead was short-lived, as defenseman Michal Jordan turned the puck over to Sabres forward Marcus Foligno in the slot, and he made no mistake to tie the game at one.
The Canes got their second power play about halfway through the second, as Sabres forward Evander Kane made a dangerous play, horse-collaring Canes defenseman Jaccob Slavin and throwing him to the ice, though Slavin remained in the game. The power play proved fruitless however, and neither team tickled the twine the rest of the period, as the Canes headed to the locker room still deadlocked at one.
The Canes quickly found themselves behind the eight ball in the third, as Eichel finished off a give-and-go with Kane and forward Sam Reinhart to give Buffalo a 2-1 lead about five minutes into the period.
Carolina tied things up quickly, as forward Victor Rask beat Johnson on his backhand on a power play with about nine minutes left in the period.
The Canes got a few grade-A chances to take the lead, but Johnson made some excellent saves to keep the game tied. There was a dicey moment as the Canes got hemmed into their zone in the last minute of regulation, but the team survived, and, as has become a ritual lately, the game headed to overtime.
The 3-on-3 overtime was its usual back and forth madness before Eichel’s last-second winner send the Canes home with half of their desired result.
The Canes’ five game road swing continues Tuesday as the team heads to Washington DC to take on the Capitals.
