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.
