Carolina Hurricanes work overtime magic again in 3-2 win over visiting Buffalo Sabres

The Carolina Hurricanes are still perfect in overtime this season.

Martin Necas — who’s made a name for himself as a 3-on-3 overtime specialist for the Canes the past two seasons — snapped a shot past Buffalo goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen at 1:30 of overtime to lift Carolina to a 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres at PNC Arena on Tuesday. The win is the Canes’ second in a row in overtime, fourth in four tries on home ice, and fifth overall in the past six games.

Antti Raanta made 20 saves on 22 shots to preserve the win.

The Canes got on the board first in the opening period when Tony DeAngelo banked a power-play point shot off a defender and beat Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen high to his blocker.

The goal came on Carolina’s lone power play of the first period. Buffalo, meanwhile, enjoyed two power plays in the first, both on penalties by Canes captain Jordan Staal.

The Sabres got off to a quick start, peppering Raanta with seven shots before Carolina could muster two, but the DeAngelo goal flipped the momentum.

All of that Hurricanes headway came to a screeching halt in the second period when, on a broken play, Buffalo forward Alex Tuch picked Seth Jarvis’ pocket in front of the net, poked the puck off Raanta’s pads and slammed home the rebound to tie the game, ultimately sending the game into the third knotted at 1-1.

The Canes retook the lead at 7:54 of the third when Brady Skjei finished a dominant in-zone sequence with a snap shot from the right circle, but the Sabres countered at 9:23 when Rasmus Dahlin chipped the puck off the boards to himself and beat Raanta with a wrister low to the glove side on a power play.

Here are three takeaways from Tuesday’s game:

Finally on the board

DeAngelo is off the schneid.

The puck-moving power-play specialist started Tuesday’s game as the only Hurricanes defender without a goal this season after both Dmitry Orlov and Jalen Chatfield found the net in the Canes’ 4-3 comeback overtime win against the Islanders last weekend.

Jaccob Slavin leads the way in goals from the blue line for Carolina this season with three, and Brady Skjei has two goals and seven assists to lead in points by defenders with nine.

But DeAngelo, brought in specifically to help on the power play and provide an offensive spark, had earned five assists without a goal while playing in each of the team’s first 12 games.

Thirteen was apparently the charm. At 12:43 of the first period Tuesday, DeAngelo gathered the puck at the right point and fired a wrister through traffic. The puck glanced off a defender’s body and beat Luukkonen’s high blocker for the game’s first goal.

Jeff Skinner returns ... again

During the period the Hurricanes could call the “lean years,” Jeff Skinner was a bright spot. Drafted seventh overall in the first round of the 2010, Skinner arrived in Raleigh one season after the Canes’ playoff run of 2009, and never reached the postseason with the club.

He played eight seasons for Carolina, scoring 204 goals and adding 175 assists. In 2018, the Canes traded Skinner to the Sabres the summer before the final year of his contract for three draft picks and a minor-league player. Of note, one of those draft picks turned into goalie Pyotr Kochetkov.

The following season, the Canes made the playoffs for the first time under coach Rod Brind’Amour. Skinner put up 40 goals for the Sabres.

Since the trade, Skinner has almost always found success against his former team. Tuesday’s contest was his 11th against the Canes. In the previous 10, he’d registered six goals and six assists, including a pair of assists in an April 2023 meeting.

Overall, Skinner has been incredibly consistent. He has the sixth-most even-strength goals (271) and ninth-most goals (339) among all NHL skaters since he entered the league in 2010, and leads Buffalo in those categories since joining the Sabres in 2018.

Tuesday, Skinner had no points, a hit and two shots in 17:31 of ice time.

Testing the goalie early

It’s no secret the Hurricanes are suffering some goaltending instability, and it’s no surprise the Sabres did their best to try and cash in on that early in Tuesday’s contest. Buffalo’s mantra appeared to be shoot early and often, regardless of where you might be on the ice.

In the first five minutes of the game, six Sabres shots reached Raanta, and they ranged from in-tight whacks at the puck to long range lobs. Raanta kicked aside, blocked or swallowed them all.

In the sixth minute, Raanta made his best save of the early going when Peyton Krebs shook loose in tight on the power play and the Finnish keeper flashed the glove. Krebs was halfway into his celebration before he realized Raanta had snagged the shot.

Normally the team getting the most shots on net in a game, the Canes were slowed in that department in the first half of the first period by a pair of penalties to Jordan Staal. The corresponding power plays allowed the Sabres to test Raanta.

The Canes’ defense locked down the rest of the first period after that second Sabres power play, allowing Raanta to reset himself.