2023-24 Regular Season, Game 13: Hurricanes vs. Buffalo Sabres (Postgame)

Returning from their successful trip to the Northeast, the Hurricanes play their fourth home game as the Buffalo Sabres come to town. Led by former Hurricane Jeff Skinner, the Sabres are starting to find their stride this season, winning three of their last four, while the Canes have taken four of their previous five. With Antti Raanta taking over starting duties as Frederik Andersen deals with a blood clotting issue, the Canes look to get things moving in the right direction after a few days off. 

Scoring Summary

1st Period

CAR (12:43)- Tony DeAngelo (1) PP (unassisted)

2nd Period

BUF (3:51)- Alex Tuch (4) (unassisted)

3rd Period

CAR (7:54)- Brady Skjei (2) (assisted by Sebastian Aho (7) & Dmitry Orlov (5))

BUF (9:23)- Ramus Dahlin (3) PP (assisted by Tage Thompson (5) & Casey Mittelstadt (9))

Overtime

CAR (1:30)- Martin Necas (5) (assisted by Sebastian Aho (8) & Brady Skjei (8))

My Thoughts

Do you think teams consider waving a white flag once they get to overtime against the Hurricanes? I wouldn't want to play against Sebastian Aho and Martin Necas on a good night, let alone during 3-on-3. This was by no means the Hurricanes' best game of the season, but it was two points nonetheless. Antti Raanta played an incredible game, only allowing one tough goal while making some highlight reel stops in the process. 

The first period was dominated by special teams. The Hurricanes had to kill two early Jordan Staal penalties. On the first kill, Raanta made a felonious stop on Peyton Krebs with his glove. Krebs faked Raanta out, but the Canes' goalie was able to reach back for an incredible stop. The second kill was much easier, with Jack Drury's breakaway chance being the best of the two minutes. While Drury didn't score, it helped swing the momentum in the Canes' favor for the first time. On the Canes' first power play of the game, Tony DeAngelo kept a clearing attempt in the zone, then got a friendly bounce off the glove of Jordan Greenway to elude Ukko-Pekka Luukonen for the icebreaker. The team wouldn't extend its lead in the final seven minutes of the period, but it was clear the momentum was Carolina's heading into the break. 

The Hurricanes earned a power play early in the second period as they tried to extend their lead. Instead, Buffalo killed it and immediately responded. After being released from the penalty box, JJ Peterka made a play from the ice to get the puck to the front of the net. While Seth Jarvis intercepted it, he had his pocket picked by Alex Tuch. The initial chance was stopped by Raanta, but Tuch was able to put home the rebound to get the Sabres back into the game less than four minutes into the period. The rest of the period was spent going up and down the ice with neither goalie giving an inch. Raanta made another massive stop in the final minutes, getting over to deny Kyle Okposo on a 2-on-1 to keep the game tied. 

The Sabres killed another early-period penalty to begin the third, but Michael Bunting came within inches of getting the go-ahead goal shortly after the kill. While he was denied, the Aho line put together an incredible shift in the offensive zone, leading to the spark to get the fans on their feet. The entire shift was spent circling the zone before Sebastian Aho found Brady Skjei in the slot for a beautiful goal to put the Canes back ahead. The lead almost immediately disappeared. After Andrei Svechnikov took an ill-timed boarding penalty, Rasmus Dahlin became a one-man power play. Dahlin played the puck to him off the boards and snapped a shot against the grain to catch Raanta leaning to find a response less than 90 seconds after Skjei's goal. 

Raanta played a great game, but he nearly gave it away during a crazy sequence after the Dahlin goal. An aerial pass got behind the Canes' defense as Casey Mittelstadt tried to track it down. Raanta left his net to poke it away, giving us all flashbacks of Petr Mrazek against Toronto in the now-infamous EBUG game. Raanta avoided contact with Mittelstadt, then was forced to make a diving stick save from the top of the dot on Greenway with the net vacant. It was an unreal moment that could've easily sunk the Hurricanes. Instead, they played out the rest of the period in a 2-2 game, needing overtime again. Raanta made two stops in the extra session before Aho and Necas went to work. Along with Skjei, the trio passed the puck around for 35 seconds. Necas won a race to the front of the net against Owen Power as he tipped a beautiful pass from Aho into the net to secure the second point. 

Overall, this was a well-played game between two good teams. Each side had its chance to control play, with four penalties on each side and similar success rates. Both goalies played strong games, though Raanta had a decided edge over Luukkonen. Where the Canes really succeeded was keeping Buffalo's stars out of the game. Tage Thompson picked up an assist, but he was never a present threat to score. Jeff Skinner managed just two shots. Tuch was the lone exception as Buffalo's best player tonight. Meanwhile, Aho had two assists, both primary helpers. The defense scored twice, led by two points from Skjei. Drury had a surprisingly effective night. The Kotkaniemi line was great at 5-on-5. It took the entire team and a little longer than 60 minutes, but it's two points to keep pace in a tough division early in the season. 

My Three Stars of the Game

3rd Star- Dmitry Orlov- Assist

After playing his best game of the season on Long Island, Orlov one-upped his performance tonight. Recording his fourth point in the last five games, he was active in the offensive zone all night, getting a secondary assist on Skjei's goal in the third period after faking a shot to get the puck to Aho. 

2nd Star- Sebastian Aho- 2 assists

While Aho is great against almost every team, he especially loves the Sabres. With his two-assist performance tonight, he has 26 points in 17 games against Buffalo, tied for the second-most against any opponent in his career. He's an incredible playmaker, and both assists highlighted that tonight. 

1st Star- Antti Raanta- 20 saves

The news of Andersen's medical issue puts extra pressure on Raanta to perform as the team's starter moving forward. If tonight is any indication, Raanta can fill that spot. He's done it in the past. In this win, Raanta was spectacular, though we had to hold our breath at times. 

Up Next- The road calls the Hurricanes once more as they prepare for a back-to-back in Florida this weekend. First, they'll stop in Sunrise on Friday to meet the Florida Panthers in a rematch of the Eastern Conference Finals. Then, the Canes will return to Tampa Bay for the second time this season on Saturday night. Tampa came away with a 3-0 win when they met a few weeks ago.