Casey Mittelstadt had the only successful shootout attempt to give the Buffalo Sabres a 3-2 victory against the visiting Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday night.
Jeff Skinner and Owen Power scored Buffalo’s goals. Goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 30 shots through overtime before denying the Hurricanes on all four of their chances in the shootout.
Tony DeAngelo and Martin Necas scored in regulation for Carolina. Spencer Martin made 30 saves for the Hurricanes and is 3-0-1 since joining the team.
There wasn’t a conversion in the shootout until the fourth round. The Hurricanes fell to 1-4 in shootouts, while the Sabres are 1-1.
Mittelstadt has gone four games without scoring, but he gave the Sabres their third consecutive victory.
The Sabres outshot Carolina 31-30 in regulation before the Hurricanes recorded two of the three overtime shots on goal.
Carolina went ahead on Necas’ 18th goal of the season on a power play with 5:18 remaining in the third period. He had an assist on the game’s first goal, making him the only player with two points for the night.
The Sabres answered 1:13 later on Power’s third goal when he was left alone in the slot following a Carolina turnover. It was the defenseman’s first tally since Dec. 21.
DeAngelo’s third goal of the season opened the scoring as he burst in from the right side, taking a pass from Michael Bunting and converting just 2:40 into the game. DeAngelo hadn’t scored since Dec. 15, though he was a scratch for most of January and into early February.
Skinner’s power-play goal came 6:27 into the second period to tie the game against his former team. It was his 19th goal of the season, but just his second in a 12-game stretch.
This marked Buffalo’s fifth consecutive game with a one-goal margin. The Hurricanes had a four-game winning streak snapped with a 2-1 loss to Dallas on Saturday night.
–Field Level Media
