BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Sabres are through two-thirds of their season, yet they entered Sunday night's game against the Carolina Hurricanes with a chance to do something they hadn't so far this year:
Put together a three-game win streak.
They did just that and then some as the Sabres defeated the Hurricanes 3-2 in a shootout.
How it happened
In a script all too familiar for this season's Sabres, they quickly fell behind in the first period.
Michael Bunting and Martin Necas combined to find Tony DeAngelo all alone at the back door, with DeAngelo slotting home the game's opening goal at 2:40 of the first period.
The goal marked the 69th first-period goal the Sabres have allowed the season, the most in the NHL. Buffalo came into the game with a minus-28 goal differential in the first period, second-worst in the league only after San Jose.
Buffalo's best chance in the first period came on their first power play of the game, but Spencer Martin made a save on Jeff Skinner's attempt near the slot to keep Buffalo scoreless in the first.
Skinner, however, would not stay off the score sheet for long.
Buffalo found the breakthrough at 6:27 of the second period on the power play after Jordan Staal took a 2-minute hooking call.
Kyle Okposo fed Dylan Cozens for a shot from the point, and after Martin's pad save, Skinner was there to bury the rebound for his 19th goal of the season.
The goal marked Skinner's second score in three games. With the assist, Cozens tallied his 13th point in his last 13 games, while Okposo notched an assist for the second straight game.
Buffalo continued to pepper the net in the second period, outshooting Carolina 12-8 in the frame, but Martin made a few critical saves, including on a 2-on-2 opportunity to deny Tage Thompson.
The third period brought a stiff test halfway through when Rasmus Dahlin took a 2-minute interference penalty after colliding with Jordan Martinook led to them landing on top of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
Buffalo's penalty kill came through when it needed it, killing the penalty without allowing any high-danger chances.
Later on, though, Dahlin would be called again for a questionable interference penalty after being pushed by a Carolina defender into Hurricanes goaltender.
Carolina went to the powerplay and was able to capitalize as Martin Necas put it home through a screen that blocked Luukkonen's view.
Shortly one minute after the Hurricanes took the lead, Peyton Krebs feeds a wide-open Owen Power, and he wrists it into the back of the net tying things up at two a piece.
The goal would keep the Sabres in it, and force this game into overtime.
Both teams went back in forth in the extra period but the goalies kept the momentum going and shut down each team's offense, sending things to a shootout.
Thompson, Tuch, and Power each gave their attempt in the shootout but neither team could put up a goal in the first three rounds.
Casey Mittlestadt in the fourth round put Carolina in a do-or-die situation, as he deked out Martin and tucked it past his blocker.
Necas, who gave the Hurricanes their second goal, would be stopped by Luukkonen and the Sabres went on to win their third consecutive game for the first time all season long.
Luukkonen finished with 30 saves on 32 shots, earning him a .938 save percentage.
UP NEXT
The Sabres will visit the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night.