The Carolina Hurricanes best players put on a show Saturday night as the Canes defeated the Buffalo Sabres, 6-2 at the PNC Arena in front of another sell out crowd.
The home team scored twice in the first period and three more times in the second to jump ahead 5-0 before the Sabres could muster much in response.
Sebastian Aho had two goals and Andrei Svechnikov, Brent Burns, Jaccob Slavin, and Martin Necas each had two assists.
Aho came close a couple of times in the third to complete his hat trick but just missed on his chances.
Pyotr Kochetkov played well in net and made 20 saves on 22 shots to pick up the win.
The Hurricanes went 2-2 on the powerplay and killed all of their penalty kill opportunities, including a minute plus of a five on three advantage for Buffalo, (0-5).
Brady Skjei scored shorthanded off a play by Teuvo Teravainen, so everything was going right for Carolina.
The Sabres scored twice in the third but it was too little too late.
Svechnikov had two perfect passes that set up Aho for one goal and Teravainen for another.
Necas skated past the entire Buffalo defense then circled behind the net before feeding Jack Drury, who knocked in his own rebound for his third of the season.
Later on, Necas was able to control a Slavin roof pass then skated in alone, but instead of shooting he faked out goalie, Eric Comrie, then left the puck for Stefan Noesen who probably flicked the easiest goal of his career into an empty net.
Next up, the Canes begin a long road trip with a game in Winnipeg on Monday night.
Game Notes:
- Brady Skjei had a team high 24:20 of ice time.
- Brent Burns collected his 600th career assist in the contest.
- The Canes outshot the Sabres 35-22. Aho had a team high 6.
- In the face off circle, the team won 54%. Jack Drury had a team best 82%, (9 of 11).
- Drury also dropped the gloves with Connor Clifton after a tough hit made by the Sabre on his teammate with less than a minute left in the game.
