By BOB SUTTON, Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C.
Martin Necas notched his second game-winning goal in overtime this season, scoring just 90 seconds into the extra period to secure a 3-2 victory for the Carolina Hurricanes against the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night.

Necas deflected the puck from a position close to the goal. He also scored a goal in overtime on October 26th against Seattle and has a total of nine overtime goals in his career, with six of them occurring in the last two seasons.

He scored the winning goal after the Sabres controlled the puck for the majority of the first minute of overtime.

Necas stated, “We obtained the puck and they appeared fatigued on the ice.”

Carolina defensemen Tony DeAngelo and Brady Skjei scored in regulation to help the Hurricanes win for the fifth time in six games — with three of those wins coming in overtime. Skjei also had an assist and Antti Raanta made 20 saves, including two early in OT.

The Hurricanes have a perfect record of 5 wins in games that have gone beyond regulation this season, with a 4-0 record in overtime and one win in a shootout. Since last December, Carolina has won 10 consecutive regular-season games that were decided in overtime, tying for the second-longest streak in NHL history.

Buffalo’s goals were scored by Alex Tuch and Rasmus Dahlin. 24 shots were stopped by Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.

Luukkonen stated that he believed our defensive efforts were able to secure at least one point.

Necas scored his fifth goal of the season with the help of Sebastian Aho’s second assist of the game.

Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour commented that skilled players tend to find solutions to create opportunities.

Aho made the delivery from the left side. Necas completed the play, bringing him within one of tying Aho’s team record for overtime goals.

“When things are going smoothly, you feel at ease and self-assured,” Necas stated. “I enjoy it.”

Aho and Skjei are tied for the team lead, each with eight assists.

Shortly after Skjei scored the go-ahead goal in the third period with an assist from Aho, the Sabres equalized at 9:23 with a power-play goal by Dahlin. This was only the fifth power-play goal of the season for Buffalo.

The Hurricanes have scored power-play goals in their last five games, with DeAngelo scoring unassisted in the first period. This brings the total number of goals scored by Carolina defensemen to at least one for the season.

In the second period, the Sabres tied the game at 1 after Tuch capitalized on a Carolina mistake and scored an unassisted goal. He has scored three goals in the last two games.

Raanta has half of Carolina’s eight wins this season. His workload is expected to increase after Monday’s announcement that goalie Frederik Andersen is out indefinitely because of a blood-clotting issue.

“He had a strong performance tonight, which is exactly what we were looking for,” Brind’Amour stated.

In their previous 11 away games against Carolina, Buffalo has a record of 1 win, 8 losses, and 2 ties.

“The atmosphere was fantastic,” commented Sabres coach Don Granato. “It had the intense feel of a playoff game, and I was impressed with how our team responded to it. They were left with an even stronger desire for success.”

UP NEXT

The Sabres will be playing against Minnesota at home on Friday.

On Friday, there will be hurricanes in Florida.

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The NHL is featured on AP’s hub at https://apnews.com/hub/NHL.

Source: wralsportsfan.com