Necas Does It Again, Canes Beat Sabres In OT

RALEIGH, NC. - Martin Necas continued his excellence in overtime on Tuesday, giving the Carolina Hurricanes a 3-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres.

Three Things From Tonight's Victory...

Raanta Upholds His End Of The Bargain

After Monday's news that Frederik Andersen would be sidelined indefinitely due to a blood clotting issue, it became apparent that Antti Raanta's workload was about to increase.

Coming off of a 22-save come-from-behind win on Long Island on Saturday night, the group went back to the veteran Finn again this evening, backed up by Pyotr Kochetkov.

Raanta was strong out of the gate, coming up with his best save of the young season during a first-period power play and withstanding an early push from Buffalo as a whole.  Rod Brind'Amour said post-game that he thought the netminder's best work came in the first five minutes of the night, a pivotal reason why the Canes didn't have to play from behind.

The early efforts allowed time for Carolina to get the game-opening goal during the middle stages of the frame and from there the home team was in control.

Raanta's workload lightened in the second period while the Canes remained on the gas at the other end of the ice, but Buffalo was able to beat him after a Seth Jarvis error in front presented an opportunity for Alex Tuch.

The only other puck to get by Raanta this evening was a third period power play goal, one that came following an ill-advised penalty in the moments following Carolina taking the lead.

Although he wasn't tasked with a high-risk save in overtime for a second straight appearance, tonight his finish was highlighted by an adventurous poke check in the third period to keep the game tied.

When all was said and done, it was a third consecutive victory for Raanta, who stopped 20.

Another Important Evening For Special Teams

The evening could have gone sideways for Carolina early tonight, as Captain Jordan Staal took two penalties in the opening 8:19.

Carolina's penalty kill has been a hot topic to start the season, as the results haven't been where we've seen them in recent years. Trending in the right direction over the last handful of games though, the group found a way to kill off both shorthanded stints, even with one of their best penalty-killing forwards in the box.

Exactly two minutes after they finished shutting down the second Sabres bid, they then cashed in on their first power play opportunity of the night.

After a failed clear by Buffalo, Tony DeAngelo flung a puck toward the net, grazing the glove of a Sabre before finding twine.

There is an argument to be made that Carolina could have closed the contest in regulation if not for the aforementioned ill-advised penalty though.

Claiming a lead with 12:06 to go in the third was no small feat, especially after Buffalo had done a nice job of keeping Carolina to the outside all evening.

However, just 38 seconds after Brady Skjei's go-ahead goal, Andrei Svechnikov was sent off for boarding.

The Sabres cashed in and forced OT on the ensuing power play.

Easier to stomach now following a victory, the timeliness of special teams was an important sector in tonight's game, finishing 1/4 on the power play and 3/4 on the penalty kill.

Overtime Is Necas Time

The Canes have played four games at PNC Arena this season.

Martin Necas has sent the home crowd happy following a thrilling finish in exactly 50% of those.

In the extra session, Necas, Sebastian Aho, and Skjei took the path of patience, circling the Sabres in their own end before electing to execute.

Aho then put a perfect feed right on the tape of #88, giving their club the second point by way of Necas' ninth career overtime winner.

They Said It

Antti Raanta offering his perspective, first on the start of the night, and then his daring third period effort...

"The first 5-10 minutes were kind of what you were hoping to get.  You want to give the guys a chance to grow into the game and make those saves...  I felt my movement was good.  I was tracking pucks and had a couple of diving saves, and those aren't an everyday thing, but sometimes you have to entertain the crowd and get them going.  They were buzzing, so mission accomplished."

Martin Necas sharing what he saw on the overtime winner and what made the win possible...

"It was just a bunch of criss-crosses with the puck.  When they're stationary, it's three on three, and one guy sleeps on the play, something is open.  That's exactly what happened and we've got a goal out of it."

Rod Brind'Amour giving his thoughts on the team's game as a whole...

"We didn't start well.  We were a little sluggish.  Maybe that's being on the road for forever, but [Buffalo] had the jump going.  That's where Rants was his best, maybe the first five minutes.  They had a couple of Grade A chances right away, and that's where he was able to save those.  I thought we were pretty good actually the rest of the way.  We didn't give up a ton and we missed a lot.  There were a lot of almosts where [we] missed the net or it didn't get to the net.  [Buffalo] did a great job, they blocked shots.  But I liked our game.  We stuck with it and got the result."

What's Next?

The Canes are scheduled to be off on Wednesday.  They will practice Thursday before traveling to Florida for a back-to-back set against the Panthers and Lightning on Friday and Saturday.

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