Posted 10:23 p.m. today
Updated 37 minutes ago
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RALEIGH, N. C. — Jeff Skinner had two goals and an assist, Brock McGinn also scored twice and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-2 on Friday night.
Carolina swept its three-game series against Buffalo and won its third straight game overall. The Hurricanes are 14-4-1 at home, including 13-1-1 in the last 15 games in Raleigh.
Skinner scored two goals early in the second period, the first one giving him his 300th NHL point.
Carolina’s Cam Ward stopped 36 shots while playing in his 600th NHL game, all with the Hurricanes.
Buffalo’s Anders Nilsson had 33 saves.
Victor Rask scored Carolina’s other goal. William Carrier and Brian Gionta scored for Buffalo.
Buffalo took advantage of a mistake to claim the lead 4:24 into the game. Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin, attempting to clear from the right corner, instead sent the puck straight to the Sabres’ Ryan O’Reilly. He set up Carrier for a tip-in from the left side of the net.
Skinner put the Hurricanes ahead with two goals in 55 seconds. At 1:48 of the second, he beat Nilsson glove side on a rush, and then at 2:43, he beat Nilsson stick side from the right circle.
McGinn then made it 3-1 at 6:51, taking a pass from Elias Lindholm in the low slot and lifting it over Nilsson to the upper left corner of the net.
Gionta halved the lead on a short-handed rush at 11:49, picking up the loose puck on a ricochet from behind the goal and taking advantage when Ward lost his stick.
Rask gave the Hurricanes some breathing room at 4:15 of the third, following Noah Hanifin’s shot that caromed off the end boards to beat Nilsson in traffic. Skinner had the secondary assist.
McGinn sealed it at 7:58, scoring from the low slot on Jordan Staal’s pass from behind the net.
NOTES:
The game was played on Carolina coach Bill Peters’ 52nd birthday. … Buffalo D Zach Bogosian played in his 500th game. … Ward is fifth among active goalies in games played. … Buffalo D Josh Gorges (hip) missed his second straight game while G Robin Lehner (illness) was out for his third. … RW Ty Rattie, D Klas Dahlbeck and D Ryan Murphy were healthy scratches for Carolina. … Staal extended his points streak to three games with his assist on Skinner’s first goal.
UP NEXT
Sabres: Host Dallas on Monday.
Hurricanes: Host the New York Islanders on Saturday in the finale of their four-game homestand.
