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The Carolina Hurricanes ended their losing skid last night, picking up a 6-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres.

The win came after three consecutive losses, against the Washington Capitals, Dallas Stars and Ottawa Senators. Ethan Bear returned to the lineup after missing six games in COVID protocol, though Tony DeAngelo and Brett Pesce remained out of the lineup, and Andrei Svechnikov was out as well with a finger injury.

It was great to see the Hurricanes rebound offensively, given how their last few games have gone. Over their past three losses heading into the game, they outshot their opponents by a ridiculous 121-60 margin, but were outscored 11-5.

While that’s a lot of goals to allow, three key defenders were missing for that stretch of games and the bigger issue was the team’s lack of finishing ability. They were generating a ton of shots and chances, but just couldn’t seem to find a way to capitalize.

So the Hurricanes scoring six goals from five different players was a nice turn of events and they also did it without Andrei Svechnikov. Based on the number of shots the Hurricanes were generating, I don’t think there was much of a concern about the team’s ability to score but regardless, it’s great the team was able to snap out of a minor scoring slump.

On another note, Antti Raanta put together a solid game, stopping 32 of 34 shots, as the Hurricanes were actually outshot by the Sabres. It was important, given that the Hurricanes’ goaltenders combined for an .855 save percentage through the team’s previous four games, dating back to their contest nine days ago against the Philadelphia Flyers.

The Hurricanes have slipped a bit in the standings over the last few games and are heading on a five-game road, where they’ll face the likes of the Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers and Minnesota Wild. It's not an easy schedule coming up but hopefully the team will be able to carry some momentum into their road trip, following last night's win.



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