Stempniak, Aho lift Hurricanes past Sabres
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Lee Stempniak and Sebastian Aho converted in the shootout and the Carolina Hurricanes picked up a rare victory in that format by defeating the Buffalo Sabres 2-1 on Saturday night at PNC Arena.
Carolina is 2-4 in shootouts this season.
Joakim Nordstrom scored in the first period for Carolina and the goal nearly stood up.
Evander Kane's goal with 2:37 left in regulation prevented a shutout and extended the game. His redirection with a tip resulted in his fifth goal this month, with assists going to Jake McCabe and Marcus Foligno.
The Hurricanes have at least one team point in six of their last seven games, though they haven't won back-to-back contests since a five-game win streak Nov. 12-22.
Carolina goalie Cam Ward made 23 saves while playing for the second night in a row. He was closing in on his third 1-0 victory of the season until late in regulation.
Ward stopped the first eight shots of the third period. Buffalo hadn't been shut out since early November and Kane made sure it didn't happen on this night.
Goalie Anders Nilsson, playing for the first time in four games, stopped 22 shots for the Sabres, who had a two-game winning streak snapped. They've won three consecutive games only once this season.
Nordstrom beat the Sabres to the puck and smashed it off the post and into the net to open the scoring with 3:56 left in the first period. It was his second goal in the last four games.
Nordstrom, a left winger, had only two previous goals this season, both coming against the San Jose Sharks.
Jay McClement and Brett Pesce assisted on the goal.
The Hurricanes kept control of a good chunk of the game. The Sabres managed only four shots on goal in the second period, but responded with 10 shots in the third.
The Sabres were unsuccessful in trying for a five-game win streak in the series with Carolina for the first time since parts of the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons.
Sabres coach Dan Bylsma was denied in his bid to become the 47th NHL coach with 300 regular-season victories.
NOTES: The Sabres play a league-high 19 sets of back-to-back games and Saturday's tilt was the back end of the team's fourth set of the season. ... D Brett Pesce appeared in his 100th NHL game, all with Carolina. ... Hurricanes C Derek Ryan entered the game on a career-best five-game point streak. ... Buffalo D Rasmus Ristolainen also began the night with a career-best five-game point streak. ... Both teams had late nights Friday, with the Sabres defeating the New York Islanders in overtime and the Hurricanes seeing the end of their seven-game home winning streak with a shootout loss to the Washington Capitals. ... The Sabres and Hurricanes meet in a rematch Thursday night in Buffalo, N.Y. ... The Hurricanes complete a four-game homestand Monday night against Detroit.