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The Carolina Hurricanes look to bounce back after a 3-0 loss to the Nashville Predators on Thursday night, today against the Buffalo Sabres. This is the final meeting of the two teams with the Canes winning the two previous matchups this season. The Canes are also 14-1-0 in their last 15 games against Buffalo.
The game’s importance grew after Thursday’s loss. The Canes’ lead over the New Jersey Devils is just a single point but still with a game in hand. The Devils host the Boston Bruins tomorrow at 8:00 pm.
The Sabres come to Raleigh motivated. They are on the edge of the playoff bubble and will need to win out and get help to make the postseason. A loss tonight would all but send them out of the playoffs for the 12th straight season.
Game Notes:
- Martin Necas scored his fourth overtime winner of the season vs. OTT, tied with David Pastrnak for the league lead in 2022- 23. He has passed Jordan Staal and Sebastian Aho who both scored three for the most overtime goals by any Whalers/Hurricanes skater in a single campaign.
- Hurricanes blueliners have now scored in 29 of the team’s 50 wins this season, and since the start of the new year, Carolina is 18-2-4 when defensemen light the lamp.
- Milestones within reach: Jordan Martinook is two assists shy of 100 career NHL assists, Jordan Martinook is two points shy of 100 Hurricanes points, Brady Skjei is two points shy of 200 career NHL points, Jordan Staal is five points shy of 400 Hurricanes points.
- Jesperi Kotkaniemi needs just one more point to post the first 40-point campaign of his NHL career. Kotkaniemi could become the fifth Hurricanes skater to register 40 points in 2022-23 and the 12th different skater to eclipse the 40-point mark with Carolina in any of the last three seasons
Projected Lineup:
Hurricanes
Teuvo Teravainen - Sebastian Aho - Martin Necas
Stefan Noesen - Jesperi Kotkaniemi - Jesse Puljujarvi
Jordan Martinook - Jordan Staal - Jesper Fast
Jack Drury - Derek Stepan - Seth Jarvis
Jaccob Slavin - Brent Burns
Brady Skjei - Brett Pesce
Shayne Gostisbehere - Jalen Chatfield
Frederik Andersen
Antti Raanta
Scratches: Paul Stastny, Calvin de Haan, Dylan Coghlan
Injuries: Ondrej Kase (Concussion), Max Pacioretty (Achilles), Andrei Svechnikov (Knee)
Sabres
Jeff Skinner - Casey Mittelstadt - Alex Tuch
Jordan Greenway - Dylan Cozens - Tage Thompson
John Jason Peterka - Tyson Jost - Jack Quinn
Zemgus Girgensons - Peyton Krebs - Kyle Okposo
Rasmus Dahlin - Mattias Samuelsson
Owen Power - Henri Jokiharju
Riley Stillman - Ilya Lyubushkin
Devon Levi
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
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