Hurricanes score 6, hold off 3rd-period rally from Sabres

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho, Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Charles Alexis Legault each had a goal and an assist, and the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Buffalo Sabres 6-3 at Lenovo Center on Saturday.

Seth Jarvis and Eric Robinson also scored, and Pyotr Kochetkov made 19 saves for the Hurricanes (10-4-0), who have won three straight.

“I thought it was a solid first two periods,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We were really playing well. We didn’t give up a ton. They were down a few, and they can start really winging it, and that’s when they get really dangerous as you can see.”

Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch each had a goal and an assist for the Sabres (5-6-4), who are 1-2-4 in their past seven games. Alex Lyon made 29 saves.

“I thought we hurt ourselves with missed nets early in the game,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. “We had opportunities to make them pay for their mistakes. There were some opportunities to create some good offense, and we failed.”

The Hurricanes scored off the rush for a 1-0 lead at 5:00 of the first period. Svechnikov skated through the neutral zone and cut inside on Sabres forward Jack Quinn before passing to Aho for the one-timer.

After Carolina turned the puck over in the corner, Noah Ostlund passed to Owen Power for a snap shot from the left face-off dot to tie it 1-1 at 8:18.

Svechnikov took a pass from K'Andre Miller and scored with a one-timer under the crossbar on the power play to give the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead at 4:34 of the second. Svechnikov has six points (four goals, two assists) in the past six games after being held without a point in his first eight games.

“I’m just trying to play my game, win the 50-50 battles,” Svechnikov said. “Sometimes when it doesn’t go your way, obviously there’s lots of negativity. I know what kind of player I am and what I can do, and I’m just ready for that moment.”

Joel Nystrom set up Kotkaniemi, who scored on a low one-timer to put the Hurricanes up 3-1 at 11:39. Nystrom earned his first NHL point in his eighth game.

Robinson took a backhand pass from Kotkaniemi in the neutral zone, got behind Buffalo defenseman Bowen Byram and beat Lyon glove side to give the Hurricanes a 4-1 lead just 29 seconds into the third period. Legault earned the secondary assist on the goal for his first NHL point in his seventh game.

Robinson missed the previous six games with an upper-body injury. The goal was his fourth in eight games this season.

“‘Robbie’ has been scoring goals,” Brind’Amour said. “He’s got underrated ability and speed. He just gets behind the defense and he can score. We’ve seen that.”

Buffalo made it 4-2 at 3:23 when Tuch scored off the rush with a glove side snap shot from the right circle.

The Sabres narrowed the lead to 4-3 at 6:49 when Thompson took a pass from Ryan McLeod and scored in the slot with a snap shot past Kochetkov’s blocker.

“(In) the third, things just started clicking for us and going into the net, which is nice to see,” Thompson said. “But too little, too late. You look at that game as a whole, you play that way as a group for 82 games, you’re going to find yourself on the right side.”

Jarvis scored an empty-net goal with 2:04 remaining, and Legault scored on the empty net 36 seconds later for his first NHL goal and the 6-3 final.

“You dream of scoring one since you were a kid, so being able to get one tonight was a great feeling,” Legault said. “A goal is a goal.”

NOTES: Buffalo defenseman Rasmus Dahlin has taken a leave of absence to take care of a personal matter in Sweden. … Nystrom and Legault are the first two Carolina defensemen to record their first career points in the same game. … Carolina forward William Carrier was minus-two with three hits in 13:20 in his return to the lineup after missing six games with a lower-body injury. … Aho has 31 points (17 goals, 14 assists) in 23 games against Buffalo.