2022-23 Regular Season, Game 11: Hurricanes v. Buffalo Sabres

The Canes have had a flair for the dramatic recently. They're on a three-game win streak where each win has come in extra time and all required them to erase a deficit despite holding the lead. Last night, the Canes marched into Tampa Bay and played a very strong first period before showing a lack of discipline in the second period, allowing three goals, two of which came on the power play. It would take a short-handed tally from Brady Skjei late in the third period to bring things back to even and after the Canes failed to score on the power play in overtime, Teuvo Teravainen and Sebastian Aho scored in the shootout while Frederik Andersen stopped five of Tampa's six shooters to win 4-3 and gain the all-important second point. Tonight, it's back to Raleigh for the first of three meetings this season with the Sabres. I'm really looking for the power play and penalty kill to show some signs of life tonight. They've both had some struggles through the first ten games, so now would be a good time to clean things up and get them both moving. 

Projected Lines/Pairs

Teuvo Teravainen-Sebastian Aho-Seth Jarvis

Andrei Svechnikov-Jesperi Kotkaniemi-Martin Necas

Jordan Martinook-Jordan Staal-Jesper Fast

Stefan Noesen-Paul Stastny-Derek Stepan

Jaccob Slavin-Brent Burns

Brady Skjei-Brett Pesce

Calvin de Haan-Jalen Chatfield

Antti Raanta

Frederik Andersen

Extras- Ondrej Kase (concussion protocol), Dylan Coghlan (healthy)

No major changes to the Hurricanes lineup tonight. While they didn't hold a morning skate after last night's win, I don't imagine we'll see many changes, if any, among the 18 skaters. I would expect to see Antti Raanta get the start in the second half of the back-to-back. Raanta was last in net for the overtime win in Philadelphia on Saturday night. 

Tonight's Opponent: Buffalo Sabres (7-3-0, 14 points, 2nd in the Atlantic Division)

Buffalo continues to be one of the better stories in the league to start the season. They sit just a few points behind Boston for the lead in the division and it's largely thanks to five core guys. Tage Thompson has been on fire lately with six goals and 11 points in his last three games. He's tied with Alex Tuch for second on the team with seven, just one goal behind Victor Olofsson's eight. He's also tied with Rasmus Dahlin for the team lead in points with 14. Former Hurricane Jeff Skinner also has ten points, tied with Dahlin with eight assists to lead the team. As a team, they've scored 14 goals in their last two games and are second in goals per game in the league (4.30). While Eric Comrie hasn't gotten off to the best start, Craig Andersen is a perfect 3-0-0 and has allowed just five goals on 92 shots. Their last win over Pittsburgh was sparked by five unanswered goals in the third after falling behind 3-1 just eight seconds into the period, including two from Olofsson, and one each from Thompson, Tuck, and new captain Kyle Okposo. This is the second year that Buffalo has started well from the jump. Now let's see if this is a sustainable pace for them or if the rest of the Atlantic is due to catch up to them.

Last Season v. Carolina- The Canes won two of their three meetings last season with the home team winning all three contests. They first met in early December and it was a rout by the Hurricanes. The Canes broke the game wide-open in the second period, scoring three times to take a 5-2 lead that would grow to 6-2 early in the third period, chasing Malcolm Subban from the game. Teuvo Teravainen scored twice and Sebastian Aho added three assists in the win. It wouldn't be until four months later before the Sabres could return it to the Canes. After Jesper Fast scored the lone goal of the first period, the Sabres responded for two in the second period. The Canes would tie it in the third, but the Sabres connected twice in just over three minutes to earn the 4-2 win. Two nights later, the two teams returned to Raleigh to finish the season series. Buffalo jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first period and held a 3-2 lead through 40 minutes. The Canes scored three unanswered goals, led by two from Jordan Staal and Aho scoring his second of the night, to win the game 5-3. Seth Jarvis and Andrei Svechnikov each added two assists in the win.

Buffalo's Starting Goalie: Craig Anderson- Buffalo will turn to Anderson tonight. He played in the final two meetings last season, going 1-1-0. He made 32 saves in their win over the Canes on April 5 but allowed four goals in their loss two days later. Anderson has been historically good against the Canes, holding a 10-7-4 record while allowing just under 2.5 goals per outing. He last played on Saturday, stopping 23 shots in a 4-3 overtime win. 

Buffalo Player to Watch: Jeff Skinner- It can't be understated how good Skinner was during the dark ages for the franchise. He scored over 200 goals and almost 400 points in eight seasons with the Canes. Since being traded, he's really loved playing against his former team. He's recorded six goals and ten points in seven games since joining the Sabres and has generally looked very good. He's red-hot right now, recording multi-point games in his last three contests and recently scoring his 300th goal in the NHL. Look for him to be setting up people all night and he might just sneak one in too. 

Scoring Summary

1st Period

(BUF) 0:28- Jacob Bryson (1) (assisted by Dylan Cozens (3))

(CAR) 8:07- Sebastian Aho (5) (assisted by Teuvo Teravainen (4) & Seth Jarvis (2))

(BUF) 10:06- Victor Olofsson (9) (assisted by Jack Quinn (2) & Kale Clague (1))

(CAR) 12:45- Sebastian Aho (6) PP (assisted by Martin Necas (9) & Andrei Svechnikov (4))

2nd Period

(CAR) 4:03- Martin Necas (7) (assisted by Sebastian Aho (8))

3rd Period

(CAR) 9:22- Jesperi Kotkaniemi (1) (assisted by Martin Necas (10) & Andrei Svechnikov (5))

(CAR) 17:46- Sebastian Aho (7) EN (assisted by Teuvo Teravainen (5) & Seth Jarvis (3))

(BUF) 19:59- Rasmus Dahlin (7) PP (assisted by JJ Peterka (4) & Jack Quinn (3))

Let's Talk About the Game

Instead of watching this game from my couch, I was actually at PNC Arena to see this game firsthand, so I don't have as many notes written down as I usually do. Regardless, the Canes played at the beginning of this game like they had just played last night. They looked a little sluggish at times and they allowed a garbage goal just 28 seconds in as Jacob Bryson ripped a shot that Antti Raanta stopped, but it deflected in off of the pants of Andrei Svechnikov to give the Sabres an early lead. Little did Buffalo know, Sebastian Aho was due for a good home game. A few minutes before the midway point, a bad turnover from the Sabres led to the top line turning around and Teuvo Teravainen finding Aho wide-open as he buried the pass to tie things. It didn't take Buffalo long to regain the lead as Victor Olofsson's clapper trickled under the arm of Raanta and into the net just past the halfway point. Tonight's enemy, Rasmus Dahlin, tripped Jesperi Kotkaniemi, leading to the first power play of the night. It took Aho 12 seconds to rip a pass from Martin Necas over the shoulder of Craig Anderson to tie it once again. The period would end without some fireworks, courtesy of Kotkaniemi and Dahlin. The Sabres defenseman was already heading to the box for interfering with Kotkaniemi, but then things got physical. While the gloves never dropped, punches were thrown and Dahlin was given a nice uppercut to the face for his troubles. It was a good end of the period for the Canes and it would only get better. 

The second period was much more of what you'd expect from the Hurricanes. They dominated play from that point and it would carry until the final whistle. Aho made a nice spin move before feeding Necas with a beautiful pass that he sniped into the net without much of a challenge from Anderson. The goal gave the Canes their first lead of the night and it would be theirs for good. Raanta clamped down on the Sabres. He made one huge save on Dahlin while the Canes were on the power play and it looked like he got up a bit slow after the play. I was a little concerned for him, but he looked no worse for wear the rest of the night. The Canes entered the third period with the lead and in the back of my mind, I remembered that Buffalo had looked very good against the Pens in the third on Wednesday night. There would be no such comeback from the Sabres tonight. Instead, Kotkaniemi finally got the money off of his back. It doesn't matter how you do it. All that matters is that you do it legally and that is exactly what he did. Necas' pass hit Kotkaniemi in the skate and as he tried to get it with his stick, the puck slid right over the line and into the net to get Kotkaniemi his first goal of the season, and the Canes took a two-goal lead. The only thing that was left was to get Aho the hat trick. Soon after Buffalo pulled Anderson, Teravainen got the puck to Aho as he deposited it into the empty net to complete his fifth hat trick and put the game to bed. We did get some trouble late as Dahlin fired a puck past Raanta with 0.1 seconds left in the game on the power play and it didn't sit well with Raanta. The scoreboard will show a 5-3 final, but it doesn't matter because the Canes dominated the final two periods. 

If we're being honest, Aho could've scored at least five times tonight. He had a short-handed breakaway in the first period that he fired high on. He missed wide on an open net in the second period. He was around the play all night and he was rewarded with three goals and four points. It was also nice to see guys like Teravainen and Seth Jarvis have strong nights too. While they didn't score goals and Teravainen still sits at zero for the season, they were still major parts of the win. The entire second line recorded points tonight. The third and fourth lines had moments to shine. No one on the defense scored any points tonight, but they all had strong games. I feel bad for Raanta because for as good of a game as he had, it'll be that last-second goal to Dahlin that he'll remember. Once the final horn sounded, he snapped his stick in disgust and practically met the team at the bench instead of them coming to him. Like the leader he is, Jaccob Slavin calmed Raanta down as the team circled up for the Strom Surge as he moved to 3-0-1 this season. After a slow start tonight, the Canes recovered and play a great final 40 minutes. The atmosphere was excellent inside PNC Arena and it was only better after a solid Canes victory. 

Cane's Three Stars of the Game

Third Star- Teuvo Teravainen (2 Assists)

He's so close that I can feel it. I was very confident that he'd score one tonight, but I'll settle for two assists to help Aho for two-thirds of his hat trick. He's seemed much more engaged on both ends of the ice in the last few games so even with no goals this season, he's finding ways to contribute. He's not someone that is going to torch the net, so he's fitting into his role this season well. 

Second Star- Martin Necas (Goal, 2 Assists)

I'm not sure he can have a bad game at this point in the season. We're just 11 games into the season and he's been a factor in just about every game. He has points in six straight games, with three multi-point games during that stretch. He also has four goals in his last five games. He's getting it done in every facet of the game and it's truly fun to watch. 

First Star- Sebastian Aho (Hat Trick, Assist)

After 11 games this season, the Canes now have two hat tricks after having just one in each of the last few seasons. Like I said earlier, Aho could've had five goals tonight if he'd been on target with some of his other chances. He truly is the team's premier playmaker and it was evident in his assist. He's unselfish with the puck and finds ways to get everyone involved. 

What's Next

The road doesn't get any easier for the Hurricanes. They won't play tomorrow before welcoming the Toronto Maple Leafs into town. It's been a struggle for the Leafs to begin the season. They sit at 5-4-2 tonight and that's before they host the Boston Bruins tomorrow night. The game in Raleigh on Sunday afternoon will be the backend of a back-to-back for the Leafs, meaning we'll likely see whichever goalie doesn't play tomorrow between Ilya Samsonov and Eric Kallgren. John Tavares is coming off of a hat trick performance of his own against the Flyers on Wednesday night as Toronto snapped a four-game losing streak. The Leafs' captain has been their strongest performer to start the season, leading them in goals (7) and points (14). It'll be a tough test for a Canes team that is riding a wave of success in the last week.