Sabres edge Hurricanes, keep pace in East wild card race

BUFFALO --Rasmus Dahlin had a goal and two assists for the Buffalo Sabres in a 4-3 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at KeyBank Center on Saturday.

Casey Mittelstadt scored twice for the Sabres (39-32-7), who have won six of eight (6-1-1). Jeff Skinner had two assists, and Devon Levi made 31 saves.
Buffalo trails the Florida Panthers and New York Islanders, who hold the two wild cards in the Eastern Conference, by six points. The Panthers won 4-2 at the Washington Capitals on Saturday, and the Islanders defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 4-0. The Sabres have two games in hand on Florida and New York.
"It shows our character right now," Dahlin said. "We're not out of it. We've just got to keep battling. It's next game, next game. So how hard we battled to the end, it just shows that we really want it and we've got to do everything we can."
Seth Jarvis, Jesper Fast and Sebastian Aho scored, and Antti Raanta made 26 saves for the Hurricanes (50-20-9), who are 3-4-1 in their past eight games. Carolina remained one point ahead of the New Jersey Devils for first in the Metropolitan Division. The Devils play at the Boston Bruins on Saturday.
"[The Sabres] have a couple of unique players and we took a breather on them, and they put it in the net," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "Unfortunately, we're in a situation right now where we're having a tough time putting it in the back of the net. Not that we didn't have enough opportunities."
With the game tied 3-3 in the third, Martin Necas had an open net but Dahlin blocked the shot with his stick. The Sabres scored 15 seconds later when Tage Thompson connected for a one-timer from the right face-off circle off a pass from Dylan Cozens for a 4-3 lead at 6:15.

"The game flipped on -- we have an empty net to tap it in and we don't put it in, and they come right down and score," Brind'Amour said. "There's your game. Honestly, there's some other areas we can be better but the effort's there. We've just got to stick with what we're doing."
Mittelstadt tied it 3-3 at 18:18 of the second. Dahlin stick-handled from the blue line into the slot before feeding Mittelstadt down low.
"I think the most impressive thing I saw him do was give me an empty-netter, so I'll take those," Mittelstadt said of Dahlin. "I was just kind of watching him skate around, then all of a sudden, I was just wide open and he still had the puck somehow. (I'll) take those and, I mean, he was pretty special tonight. That was fun to watch."
An uncovered Aho made it 3-2 Carolina at 11:04, finishing off a quick passing play from one knee below the right circle.

Mittelstadt gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 4:00 of the first period. Skinner kicked the puck over to Mittelstadt, who skated to the front of the net before lifting a backhand over Raanta's left pad.
Jarvis scored from the doorstep to tie it 1-1 at 14:34, collecting his own pass attempt after it hit the skate of Sabres defenseman Riley Stillman.
Fast then put Carolina ahead 2-1 just 22 seconds later, taking a one-handed pass from Jordan Staal at the top of the crease at 14:56.
"We're going to need everyone scoring, especially with [Andrei Svechnikov] out as well," Staal said. "We're going to need myself and everyone through the lineup putting the puck in the back of the net and taking some heat off our top guys. It's a group that's got to battle through this adversity a bit right now. We've got keep our heads held high and keep pushing forward and find ways to start grinding out some wins."
Dahlin tied it 2-2 at 4:04 of the second period with a wrist shot from the high slot on the power play.
"All I can do is do my best and compete and that's what I did today," Dahlin said. "I really wanted to win this game. I think that's the simple answer."
NOTES:Aho scored his 217th NHL goal, moving him to within two of tying Blaine Stoughton for fourth place in Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers history. … Raanta lost in regulation for the first time since Nov. 12. He had been 15-0-2 since then. … The Hurricanes lost for only the second time in their past 16 games (14-2-0) against Buffalo. … With an assist on Mittelstadt's first goal, Dahlin became the second defenseman in Sabres history to reach 70 points in a single season, after Phil Housley, who did so three times. … Dahlin is the first defenseman since Alexei Zhitnik in 1997-98 and the fourth different defenseman in Sabres history to score at least 15 goals in a season. … Thompson scored his 46th goal, tying him with Pat LaFontaine and Danny Gare for eighth-highest total in a single season in Buffalo history. Alexander Mogilny holds the record with 76 goals in 1992-93.