Hurricanes outlast Sabres in overtime
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Defenseman Jaccob Slavin scored 2:15 into overtime to lead the Carolina Hurricanes to a 5-4 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night.
Slavin's goal capped a frenetic finish that featured six goals in the third period and a hat trick for Buffalo's Jack Eichel.
On the game-winner, Elias Lindholm found Slavin open in the center of the ice and Slavin scored on a shot to the blocker side.
Lindholm, Justin Williams, Jordan Staal and Derek Ryan also scored for Carolina (13-11-7). Cam Ward made 37 saves.
Eichel picked up his first career hat trick for the Sabres (8-18-7), who came back from a two-goal deficit before falling. Jake McCabe also scored for Buffalo. Chad Johnson made 29 saves.
After a slow start by both teams, things exploded in the third period with six goals in a span of 8:14.
After falling behind 2-1, Carolina briefly took charge with three goals in just under four minutes.
Staal evened the score three minutes into the third by redirecting a long shot by Slavin. Ryan deflected a hard shot by defenseman Brett Pesce at 4:03, catching Johnson off guard to give the Hurricanes the lead.
Lindholm made it 4-2 on a terrific tic-tac-toe passing sequence with Ryan and Sebastian Aho on an odd-man rush.
Eichel brought the Sabres back with two goals in 10 seconds.
The second goal by Eichel came 9:24 into the third on a wrist shot from the middle of the ice with traffic in front. Seconds later, Eichel showed tremendous patience in holding onto the puck while moving to his right, waiting for both the Carolina defense and Ward to commit. Eichel then placed a high shot into the net for his hat trick.
McCabe made it 2-1 1:20 into the third following a rebound.
Eichel's first goal came with 9:14 left in the second. McCabe's shot from the point was deflected and fell right to Eichel, who put home his ninth goal of the season.
Williams put the Hurricanes on the board first with 9:44 left in the second on a rebound opportunity.
NOTES: D Josh Gorges, C Jordan Nolan and D Justin Falk were scratched for the Sabres. ... D Klas Dahlbeck and RW Josh Jooris were scratched for the Hurricanes. ... D Nathan Beaulieu returned for Buffalo after missing five games with the flu. Beaulieu told reporters that he lost 10 pounds due to the illness. ... This was the 200th career NHL game for Sabres C Sam Reinhart. ... This was the second of three meetings between the Sabres and Hurricanes this year. The third and final meeting takes place on Dec. 23 in Carolina.