The Carolina Hurricanes had a valiant comeback effort in the third period with two goals after they fell down 3-0, but it wasn’t enough as the Canes fell short and lost their first matchup of the season against the Buffalo Sabres, 4-2. Sabres center Ryan McLeod recorded his first NHL hat trick with a goal in each period.
The Sabres started strong, getting on the board within the first minute. A turnover by left wing Jordan Martinook led to a counter-attack for the Sabres, allowing McLeod to get a pass from out wide and send it blazing past goaltender Dustin Tokarski for a quick 1-0 lead.
Tokarski started between the pipes for Carolina and recorded 21 saves at a .875 save percentage as he was significantly outperformed by Buffalo goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who had 35 saves and a .946 save percentage.
The Canes couldn’t find the strength to keep up with the Sabres. They tried to hold their own in the second but weren’t getting to the 50/50 pucks and were losing the battles that mattered. Buffalo outskated Carolina in the period, allowing for two Sabres goals.
Trying to bring down a pass from defenseman Brent Burns, defenseman Jaccob Slavin had an awkward bounce against his stick, giving away the puck in the Canes’ zone. Sabres center Dylan Cozens corralled the puck at the top of the zone and ripped a shot in the slot past Tokarski for a 2-0 lead eight minutes into the second.
With four seconds left in the second period, McLeod won a battle directly in front of the net and got a bounce past Tokarski to give Buffalo a 3-0 lead heading into the third period.
Despite falling into a 3-0 deficit, the Canes started coming to life in the third period. Three minutes into the third, center Jesperi Kotkaniemi skated the puck into the Sabres’ zone, passing it along the wall behind the goal to Burns. Burns then sent it to Slavin who put up a seemingly harmless attempt at the net that found its way through Luukkonen’s five-hole to cut it to 3-1.
Sending Tokarski to the bench and bringing on one more skater allowed the Canes to get one more on the board late in the third period. Center Martin Necas found defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere cross-ice and connected two passes before Necas ripped one into the back of the net, shrinking the Sabres’ lead to one goal with three minutes left.
Buffalo center Tage Thompson tried to take advantage of the Canes’ empty net and shot the puck from his end of the ice. The puck bounced off the post, starting a race between Burns and McLeod to see who could get to the loose puck first. McLeod got to the puck but couldn’t put it in the back of the net before Burns slashed his stick in half to prevent the goal. A penalty was called on Burns and the Sabres were awarded the goal, completing the hat trick for Mcleod.
The Hurricanes allowed zero shots on goal in the third period, but it wasn’t enough to get ahead, giving the two points to the Sabres.
Next, the Carolina Hurricanes take on the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday, at 7 p.m. at the Lenovo Center.
