Sabres extend winning streak to 3 games with SO victory over Hurricanes

Owen Power had spent the last six games watching from the press box, waiting for his upper-body injury to recover while his Buffalo Sabres teammates played without him.

His experience on Sunday, he said, was considerably more fun. Power scored the game-tying goal with 4:05 remaining and the Sabres went on to earn a 3-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes in a shootout.

“It was awesome,” Power said. “It was a good game, the crowd was awesome tonight, and it was a lot of fun to be back in.”

The victory gave the Sabres their first three-game winning streak of the season, coming on the heels of one-goal wins in Montreal and Columbus. The meeting with the Hurricanes was tight by any measure, with the Sabres having finished with slight edges in shot attempts (81-75) and scoring chances (35-31, according to Natural Stat Trick) as well as on the scoreboard.

This win required the Sabres to erase two deficits, the first of which was created when Tony DeAngelo found a lane to the back door to complete a tic-tac-toe passing sequence just 2:40 into the game. Jeff Skinner scored a power-play goal to tie the score 1-1 early in the second period.

Carolina pulled back ahead on a power-play goal from Martin Necas with 5:18 remaining in regulation, after Rasmus Dahlin drove to the net on a scoring opportunity and was called for goaltender interference. Power scored the tying goal 1:13 later, a shot from the inside edge of the right faceoff circle set up by Peyton Krebs.

“I think we pushed hard,” Power said. “Kind of didn’t let that goal take the wind out of the sails. We kind of responded with a push back and had some good chances and were able to tie it up.”

Casey Mittelstadt scored the lone goal of the four-round shootout, beating Hurricanes goaltender Spencer Martin to his blocker side. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made a low glove save on Necas to clinch the victory and put the finishing touches on a 30-save performance.

“It’s nice to win,” Skinner said. “I think it’s just good we’re building off good things in our game. There’s still more we want to build off and we’ll continue to try and improve and keep this thing rolling as long as we can.”

Here’s the breakdown of a hard-fought win at KeyBank Center.

1. Granato said the Sabres were motivated by the goaltender interference call against Dahlin, which paved the way for Necas’ late go-ahead goal. Dahlin drove to the net with the puck and made contact with Martin, but was pushed from behind by Hurricanes forward Michael Bunting.

“What I thought is we responded very well when we gave up the penalty-kill goal against,” Granato said. “I think we were frustrated at the call originally, and then frustrated even more that it went in the net.

"And we funneled it the right way. We elevated our compete instantly. And you got a goal within a minute later.”

2. Zach Benson initiated the play leading to Power’s goal, sending the puck behind the goal line and then driving to the Carolina net to draw the attention of multiple defenders as Krebs has possession down low. Krebs emerged from behind the net and sent a tape-to-tape pass to Power, who beat Martin to the far side.

“[Krebs] is going to see you when you’re open,” Power said. “He made a really good play there and I’m just kind of lucky it went in.”

3. Power skated 23:05 in his first game since Feb. 10.

“Incredible,” Granato said. “I thought he was great. He played 20-plus minutes, scored a goal, but he was really good all the way through.

“Sometimes when a guy’s out, you don’t see him and you miss him. And I can tell you on the bench, there were lots of moments today where you’re like, ‘Oh, is it nice to have him in the lineup.’”

4. Dahlin skated 31:43, surpassing the career high he set in Minnesota last Saturday. He has exceeded 29 minutes of ice time in six consecutive games, the longest such streak in the NHL since Erik Karlsson did so in seven straight games in February 2016.

“He’s amazing,” Granato said. “He’s never not giving you everything he has. He’s emptying the tank every shift, and that’s impressive and that’s what the rest of our crew and guys need to see. I think he’s a great role model for the entire group of how to play and give everything you have at a very highly competitive level. I mean, he is ultra-competitive.”

5. Luukkonen started for the 14th time in the last 16 games. He improved his save percentage to .936 in that span, the best mark in the NHL among goaltenders with at least five games played.

The goaltender made a series of saves on Brett Pesce from in tight to prevent the Hurricanes from scoring the go-ahead goal in the second period. He did not allow a goal in the shootout – his first this season – which opened with a pad save on Sebastian Aho.

6. The Sabres assigned defenseman Kale Clague to the Rochester Americans after the game. Clague leads Amerks defensemen with 23 points this season.

Up next

The Sabres open a two-game road trip in Florida on Tuesday. The game can be streamed exclusively on ESPN+ and Hulu beginning at 7 p.m. Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray will have the radio call on WGR 550.