Hurricanes vs. Sabres – NHL Game Recap – 2 February 2023

BUFFALO, NY — Stefan Noesen scored a goal and an assist to lead the Carolina Hurricanes to a 5-1 win over the Buffalo Sabers on Wednesday night.

Sebastian Aho, Brent Burns, Derek Stepan and Jordan Martinook also scored for the Hurricanes, who have won seven straight. Antti Raanta made 29 saves.

Alex Tuch scored Buffalo’s only goal. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 29 saves.

“We’ve been playing pretty consistently,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Our guys work really hard and that’s the lifeblood of our group, contributions up and down the roster.”

The Hurricanes completely dominated the Sabers from the start, taking control of the game and quickly taking a 3-0 lead.

“It felt like it was huge for us,” Aho said. “It was almost the match there.”

Aho opened the scoring on the power play 2:35 into the game, finishing a pass into the Teuvo Teravainen slot for a tap-in. Aho extended his hot streak and scored goals in six straight games.

Noesen had his own tap-in midway through the first period on a pass from Martin Necas.

Burns made it 3-0 with 7:13 left in the first period, firing into an open net following a formidable setup from Jesperi Kotkaniemi.

Tuch put the Sabers on the board with 5:15 left in the first on a wrist shot from the right circle. It was his 24th goal of the season.

Things went from bad to worse late in the second period for Buffalo. Sabers leading scorer Tage Thompson left the game with an upper body injury and did not return. Thompson had been trying to play through injury for the past few days and missed practice on Monday. Thompson has 34 goals and 68 points in 50 games. The injury jeopardizes his status for this weekend’s NHL All-Star Game.

“I never had the rhythm and obviously we played against a very good hockey team and a capable hockey team,” said Sabers coach Don Granato. “It didn’t matter who we were playing against tonight. This outcome was not going to be favorable for many reasons that were well within our control.

Buffalo outshot Carolina 8-1 to open the third period, but couldn’t get on the board before Stepan made it 4-1. Stepan scored his fifth goal of the season with a deke around Luukkonen at the top of the crease.

Martinook added an empty-netter with 1:41 left.

SKINNING MILESTONE

Sabers forward Jeff Skinner played his 900th career game. He is the 63rd active NHL player to have played 900 or more games. Skinner originally entered the league with Carolina after being selected seventh overall by the Hurricanes in 2010.

NEXT

Hurricanes: After the All-Star break, return home to face the New York Rangers on Saturday, February 11.

Sabers: After the all-star break, host the Calgary Flames on Saturday, February 11, before heading across the country for a three-game road trip.

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