RALEIGH, N.C. — Sergei Samsonov
scored 1:47 into overtime and the Carolina Hurricanes beat Buffalo 4-3
on Thursday night, sending the slumping Sabres to their sixth straight
loss.
Brandon Sutter had a goal and two
assists, and Stephane Yelle and Ray Whitney also scored for Carolina,
which gave coach Paul Maurice his 400th career victory by continuing its
sharpest stretch of the season.
The Hurricanes are on their second
four-game winning streak, have eight wins in 10 games and claimed their
fifth straight victory at home.
The decisive sequence started when
defenseman Steve Montador slipped while trying to play the puck near
goalie Ryan Miller. Sutter snatched it and backhanded a pass to a
cutting Samsonov, who snapped it past Miller.
Derek Roy scored two goals and Jochen
Hecht added one for Buffalo, which has lost six straight for the first
time since an 0-5-5 stretch in 2007-08. The Sabres will host Western
Conference-leading San Jose on Saturday in their final game before the
Olympic break.
Yelle gave Carolina a 3-2 lead with
10:05 left in the second, when he skated down the right side and whipped
a shot past Miller's shoulder and into the upper-left corner of the net
for his second goal since Nov. 27. Roy tied it with 7:07 left in the
third by beating Manny Legace with a backhander.
Miller, the probable starter for the
United States in the Olympics, made 31 saves.
Legace stopped 29 shots and improved
his career record against Buffalo to 5-0 by beating the Sabres for the
second time in a week.
Carolina used a suddenly productive
power play to erase an early 2-0 deficit, scoring twice with the man
advantage in a 3 1/2-minute span against the NHL's best penalty kill.
Sutter got things started for the
Hurricanes by beating Miller with a wrist shot, and Whitney took a
pretty feed from Jussi Jokinen and chipped the puck over the Buffalo
goalie's shoulder with 1.3 seconds before the break.
That came after the Sabres jumped on
Carolina early. Roy put his team's first shot in the net and Hecht
stretched the lead to 2-0 with a fluky goal that appeared to click off
Hurricanes forward Steven Goertzen and through Legace's legs.
Notes
It was Sutter's first career
three-point night. … Jokinen extended his points streak to eight. …
Roy has four goals in six games. … Ruutu reached 200th career points
with an assisted on Carolina's first goal.