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Buffalo Sabres at Carolina Hurricanes: Game Preview and Storm Advisory

It’s night two of a back-to-back for the Canes as a pesky Sabres team comes to town.

By Cody Hagan
/ new

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Buffalo Sabres v Carolina Hurricanes Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images

Buffalo Sabres (7-3-0) @ Carolina Hurricanes (7-2-1)
2022-23 Regular Season — Game 11
Friday, November 4, 2022 — 7pm ET
PNC Arena — Raleigh, NC
Listen: 99.9 The Fan
SBN Opposition: Die By The Blade

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After a thrilling shootout victory last night over the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Carolina Hurricanes return home to take on a surprisingly good Buffalo Sabres team.

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In what will be just their fourth home game of the season, the Hurricanes are looking to ride the momentum of three straight extra-time wins into a strong start for the month of November. They continue to be paced by Martin Necas, who now has 14 points in just 10 games played, and Andrei Svechnikov is right behind Necas with 11 points. The dynamic duo has been just as dangerous as anyone in the NHL not playing in Edmonton.

The main areas of concern for Carolina continue to be their special teams play combined with the lack of contributions from Teuvo Teravainen and Jesperi Kotkaniemi. Their power play is now ranked 24th in the NHL while their penalty killing unit is 15th. The power play in particular has been hard to watch going just 2-for-19 since the team returned from their long west coast trip and they’ve whiffed on overtime power plays in both the past two games. Regardless of struggles the team is still 7-2-1 which is what matters, however one would think that if they cannot correct those problems their record will catch up to them fairly soon.

For Buffalo it’s been a hot start that may be surprising to many. The Sabres currently sit second in the Atlantic Division with good wins over Pittsburgh, Edmonton, and Calgary. Both Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin have 14 points and Victor Olofsson has eight goals in ten games. Jeff Skinner recently scored his 300th NHL goal and sometimes it’s hard to believe over 200 of those came with Carolina.

A big area of concern for the Sabres is goaltending. Eric Comrie has started seven of their ten games and has just a .898 save percentage with a 3.29 GAA. 41-year-old Craig Anderson has had much better stats in his three starts going 3-0-0 with a 0.946 save percentage and 1.66 GAA.

Game Notes

  • Jalen Chatfield took three minor penalties last night and his pairing with Calvin de Haan looked less than ideal last night so you have to figure Dylan Coughlan draws in for one of them tonight.
  • Buffalo is averaging 4.30 goals-per-game which ranks second in the NHL. Carolina is averaging 3.11 so far.
  • To go along with their high goals-per-game average, Buffalo leads the league in shooting percentage at 13.0%.
  • Jeff Skinner is the third oldest player on the Sabres roster trailing only Craig Anderson and Kyle Okposo.
  • Rasmus Dahlin is second in the NHL for points by a defenseman with 14.
  • Martin Necas is tied for eighth in the NHL for points by a forward with 14.

In Case You Missed It

Storm Advisory

  • How Igor Shesterkin took over the New York City sports world. [ESPN]
  • Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds reportedly interested in buying Senators. [Yahoo]
  • Laine star of Global Series for Blue Jackets in home country of Finland. [NHL]
  • Alex Ovechkin ties Gordie Howe for most goals with one team. [ESPN]
  • Jack Eichel is responding well to the added pressure to perform in Vegas. [THN]

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