On a night when former Carolina Hurricanes star forward Jeff Skinner returned to PNC Arena for the first time as a visitor, the Canes’ current stars led them to victory. The Canes’ top line of forwards Sebastian Aho, Micheal Ferland and Teuvo Teravainen combined for seven points in a 4-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres Friday night, their sixth win in seven games.
Aho had two goals for the Canes (21-18-5) against the Sabres (23-15-6). Ferland had a goal and two assists, the first three-point game of his career and Teravainen had two assists. Forward Justin Williams also scored against Buffalo to give him goals in four straight games. Goalie Curtis McElhinney was steady again and stopped 30 of 33 Buffalo shots.
Though the Canes picked up a much-needed bounce-back win after a tough loss in Tampa Bay Thursday night, the performance was certainly not their sharpest.
“We weren’t very good,” head coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Especially the first period, we’re very, very fortunate. We got a really lucky bounce and didn’t play well at all, but I thought we played a little better as the game went on. We played hard; execution wasn’t very good. Our goalie came up with some nice saves when we needed it and we got a couple breaks so that was nice to see. We were a little bit deflated after last night to it was nice to see the guys come out and at least play hard.”
The Canes got a fortuitous bounce to take a 1-0 lead about halfway through the first period; Ferland’s shot from the side boards caromed off Sabres goalie Carton Hutton’s blocker, off the top of the net, off a defender and in.
“[The defender] was forcing me, I don’t know if he wanted me to chip it or not, but I just tried to throw it on net,” Ferland said. “I didn’t want to get it deflected and it was a good bounce.”
The Sabres got a golden chance to tie the game late in the opening frame off a defensive zone turnover by Canes defenseman Dougie Hamilton, but McElhinney was in perfect position to make a point-blank stop on Sabres forward Jason Pominville.
“You almost come to expect the big saves now,” Brind’Amour said. “We had a couple break downs and you’re like, ‘He’s going to save it.’ On the PK there, there were a couple scrambles where our guys were all in front. He’s just calming. He’s been great.”
Buffalo did tie the game with 20.7 seconds left in the first. Eight seconds into a tripping penalty to Canes forward Saku Maenalanen, former Hurricane Jeff Skinner batted a puck out of midair at the goal line to make it 1-1.
The Canes and Sabres combined for three goals in a span of 1:12 early in the second period.
Williams restored the Canes’ lead with a beautiful goal. He took the puck at the blue line, dangled around a defender to the top of the right circle and went top shelf to make it 2-1. With that goal, Williams has scored in four straight games.
“It’s a stretch of hockey,” Williams said. “You feel you get the same amount of chances. Sometimes they go in; sometimes they don’t. Instead of bar out, it went bar in today, so I got lucky.”
The lead was short lived, as just 30 seconds later Sabres forward Jason Pominville tied it at two with a one-timer from the slot. The Canes answered back quickly, however; as Aho backhanded a puck in from the corner off Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin’s skate to make it 3-2 42 seconds after Pominville’s goal.
Aho’s second goal came on another good bounce; he attempted to wrap a puck in from behind the net and it ticked off Sabres defenseman Jake McCabe’s skate and in. Ferland’s assist on that goal gave his his first career three-point game.
“Me and [Teravainen] try to make plays and [Ferland] is just a really good power forward,” Aho said. “He goes to the net hard; he checks hard. He’s just a big body out there who creates so much space for us and he can make some plays too.”
Sabres forward Kyle Okposo made it a 4-3 game with three minutes and change left in the third with a shot that bounced in off Maenalanen’s stick. Despite pulling Hutton for an extra skater late, Buffalo could not find the back of the net again and the Canes picked up a key victory.
“We don’t seem to make things easy,” Williams said. “We get up a couple goals and give up one late. And then we’re really scrambling. That we have to clean up. I’m happy we’re getting the two points but it’s important to make it easy on ourselves if we can.”
The win moves the Canes within fives points of Buffalo for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Carolina will host the Nashville Predators at PNC Arena Sunday with a 12:30 puck drop as the team looks to continue battling back into the playoff hunt.
“You learn a lot when your backs are against the wall,” Williams said. “Quite frankly, we talked about it, it was embarrassing to be where we were. It’s still kind of embarrassing to be where we are now. We expect to be a lot higher but we’re making progress. That’s the important thing. We can’t look at the standings yet. We just need to keep plodding along and banking points.”
Left winger Jeff Skinner returns to PNC Arena with the Buffalo Sabres, Friday, Jan. 11. Skinner spent eight seasons playing for the Carolina Hurricanes before being traded to the Sabres last year. Skinner made one goal during a power play in the first period, but in the end lost to the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-3.
