Built A Period To Start
Playing at PNC Arena for the seventh time in eight contests, the Canes were forced to turn to Pyotr Kochetkov in net for a fourth consecutive game.
Rod Brind'Amour shared pre-game that the team was hoping to give their young netminder a break and go with Antti Raanta tonight, but the veteran netminder was feeling under the weather, so the head coach called it "an easy decision" to go with the 24-year-old.
Raanta is the latest victim of an illness that has been going around the locker room the last little bit, as sickness also impacted Brent Burns a few weeks ago, and more recently it caused Andrei Svechnikov to miss Tuesday's game in Philadelphia.
When the puck went down, it was a physical affair between the two sides to start.
The feisty nature would play an important role in the start of the night, as Stefan Noesen would sit for a roughing call against Rasmus Dahlin. Giving Carolina's penalty kill their first test, it ended up being a two-minute stretch that created momentum for the home team.
Tim Gleason's units didn't give the Sabres a whole lot to work with, and in the following moments after the kill was officially successful, the Canes got going.
Building their game, the team then claimed the first goal of the night via Sebastian Aho.
His 27th point in his 18th regular-season game against Buffalo, Carolina's #20 buried a feed in transition from Seth Jarvis, beating Eric Comrie high to the glove.
Then, 70 seconds later, Jack Drury doubled Carolina's advantage.
Giving him a third goal in six games, #18's second whack after a Martin Necas pass made it 2-0 to round out the period.
