Recap: Canes Hold On to Edge Sabres

Analysis from Buffalo
→ The Carolina Hurricanes earned their second win in as many games against the Buffalo Sabres, holding on to a 2-0 lead established in the first period to skate away with a 3-1 victory. Jeff Skinner, Justin Faulk and Sebastian Aho scored for Carolina, while Cam Ward made 22 saves.
"We stuck with it. They made a nice play on the goal, but we did a great job to finish it off not giving them much else," Jordan Staal said.

→ Perhaps not playing Monday and thus getting an extra and unexpected day of rest since their last game served the Hurricanes well. They came out with an excellent first 20 minutes. Though the Sabres had the edge in shots, the Hurricanes put up numbers where it counted and took a 2-0 lead into the intermission.
"I thought a lot of guys had some good jump tonight," Staal said. "All through the lineup, everyone was skating well and doing good things. [The extra rest] probably didn't hurt."
"Any time you can squeeze three days off in a row pretty much, short of a morning skate I guess, you can take it, especially in a year like this when there are a lot of games in a short period of time," Faulk said.
Jeff Skinner got things started just 1:34 into the game. Skating the puck into the zone, Skinner faked the slap shot before shooting and scoring blocker side on Robin Lehner.
"We were able to create turnovers and maybe catch them changing a few times," Faulk said. "We were able to get a few breaks with forwards to create a lot of chances."
Late in the period, Faulk joined the rush, accepted a pass from Lee Stempniak and fired it home for his sixth goal of the season.
"I'm just trying to join the rush and hoping that their D goes back with Aho there to open up space," Faulk explained. "Stemper made a great pass over. I just shot it and it went in."
The Hurricanes also killed a penalty - no surprise there with their league-best PK unit - and Cam Ward stopped all seven shots he faced, including a quality chance off the stick of Jack Eichel shortly after Skinner scored, in the opening period.
Even though the Canes had a two-goal lead after 20 minutes, head coach Bill Peters thought it could have been more.
"I think [not playing Monday] hurt, actually," he said. "I didn't think we were as sharp as we would have been if we could have kept in the rhythm of playing."
→ Over the weekend, Peters talked about how he wanted his team to step on the opposition's throat when given the opportunity. They had just that opportunity in the second period with four power plays, and though they put seven shots on net on the man advantage, they were unable to convert and their lead remained 2-0 after 40 minutes.
"I would have liked to get more. I don't like letting teams hang around. Would have liked to have more than two on the board at that stage," Peters said. "We've got to execute better. I didn't think the urgency was very high amongst the group, and I didn't think the execution was very good because of it.
"I'd like a little bit more killer instinct moving forward," he said.
→ The Sabres and their crowd found some energy early in the third period when Johan Larsson got free in the slot to bang one in and cut the Canes' lead in half, 2-1.
"We iced it, and it led to a goal," Peters said. "We had some tired guys out there, and it led to a D-zone breakdown."
"They got a few looks, obviously the goal and maybe one or two others that we'd like to have back, but we'll take the win," Faulk said.
The Hurricanes fended off the Sabres' attack for the balance of regulation, even killing off a penalty in the latter half of the period. Aho found the empty net with a minute left to play to seal the Canes' road win.
"Just try to keep playing the same way, take away their options and create turnovers," Faulk said. "They're going to get pucks in and get shots, but you just have to keep that to a minimum or to the outside."
And when the team broke down, Ward was there to make the save.
"Wardo has been good. He's been good for a while now. Hopefully he continues that. It's really awesome to see," Staal said. "He's been good and timely, as well."
"We needed [Ward]. Game's on the line. It's 2-1 coming down the stretch, you're on the PK, building's got a little bit of life after they scored," Peters said of his netminder. "He was real solid throughout tonight."
→ One game remains for the Hurricanes before their three-day holiday break. They'll head back to Raleigh tonight and will look to extend their home point streak to 10 games (8-0-1) when they host the Boston Bruins in a 7:30 p.m. Friday face-off.