Aho scores 2, Hurricanes ease past Sabres to push point streak to 4

Sebastian Aho scored two goals for the Carolina Hurricanes in a 6-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Saturday.

Teuvo Teravainen had a goal and an assist, and Pyotr Kochetkov made 21 saves for the Hurricanes (14-8-1), who have a four-game point streak (3-0-1).

“Obviously it just counts for the two points but it’s nice to have that kind of effort,” Aho said. “Nice way to end this homestand and sets the tone for the big road trip.”

Casey Mittelstadt and Tyson Jost scored for the Sabres (10-12-2), who have been outscored 12-6 in losing two straight and have allowed at least six goals in each of their past three losses.

“I think we definitely play way too soft,” Buffalo forward Dylan Cozens said. “We’re too easy to play against. … I feel like we don’t kill plays, we kind of get bullied and stuff. We need to be way harder to play against. We’re way too easy to play against right now.”

Eric Comrie made 29 saves for Buffalo.

“I don’t think I was good enough tonight for the team,” Comrie said. “I don’t feel like I gave the team enough of a chance to win. I’ll take the blame myself there.”

Aho gave Carolina a 1-0 lead at 15:26 of the first period, taking a short pass from Seth Jarvis inside the blue line and skating to the edge of the right circle for a shot that beat Comrie glove side.

Jack Drury connected on his own rebound from the left circle to make it 2-0 at 16:36. Martin Necas carried the puck up the right side and around the back of the net before sending it to Drury for his third goal in the past six games.

“I'm fortunate to get to play with some good players out there,” he said. “They make it easy, and I just have to capitalize when I get my chances.”

Aho scored from the high slot on the power play, pushing Carolina’s lead to 3-0 at 1:06 of the second period.

“He was good. He was the difference,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “That line was good. He was real special tonight.”

Stefan Noesen took a drop pass from Necas at the front of the net on the rush to extend it to 4-0 at 14:12 and Teravainen’s goal from below the right circle on the power play made it 5-0 at 18:04.

Mittelstadt made it 5-1 when he scored far side from the right circle at 4:08 of the third period.

Brady Skjei scored short-handed off the face-off to make it 6-1 at 8:05.

Jost cut it to 6-2 at 9:24, scoring from in front when Kochetkov couldn’t get back to the net in time after coming out to the slot to try for a poke check on Peyton Krebs.

“There’s going to be frustrating moments and frustrating things, but you can't play frustrated,” Sabres coach Don Granato said. “Again, very simple. We didn't compete at the level we needed to. A lot can get complicated when that's not the case.”

NOTES: Buffalo forward Jordan Greenway left the game after the first period with an upper-body injury. … Aho had his 39th multi-goal game, moving him past Geoff Sanderson into fifth place for most in Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers history. … Hurricanes defenseman Brent Burns had two assists to reach 600 in the NHL. He’s the seventh defenseman in NHL history and the ninth active player and lone active defenseman to hit the milestone. … Andrei Svechnikov, Necas and Jaccob Slavin each also had two assists. … Carolina is 16-2-0 in its past 18 games against the Sabres and has won each of its past 10 home games against them, dating back to Dec. 17, 2016, the longest active home win streak against Buffalo by any team.