Coming off of a tough shootout loss at the hands of the Washington Capitals, the Carolina Hurricanes were able to pick up to two points via a shootout victory on Saturday night in front of a boisterous 11,682 crowd at the PNC Arena.
A back and forth first period finally rendered the game’s first goal at the 14:04 mark. Joakim Nordstrom was the beneficiary of a loose puck in the slot following a net-front drive by Jay McClement on the rush. It was Nordstrom’s third of the year and it gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead through 20 minutes.
The Canes and Sabres were slow in period two. The scoring chances came down going into a much more fruitful third period, at least for one team.
The Sabres came out and pressured the Hurricanes as they went into another third-period shell. Evander Kane would go on to tie the game at one thanks to a well-placed deflection from the top of the slot with 3:37 to go in regulation time. Buffalo had 28 shot attempts in the third period opposed to Carolina’s ten.
An eventful overtime period failed to render a deciding goal, which led to the second shootout in as many nights at the PNC Arena.
Lee Stempniak led off the skills competition with a slick backhander to give the Canes a 1-0 advantage. Sebastian Aho, who was denied just 24 hours earlier in the shootout by Philipp Grubauer, then beat Nilsson in round two to put pressure on Jack Eichel. With the game on the line, Eichel got the puck poked away by Cam Ward, thus securing a 2-1 victory for the Hurricanes on home ice.
Ward made 23 save for the Hurricanes and earned first star honors on Saturday night. Carolina extended their home point streak to nine games (8-0-1).
Rank the Performances
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