Hurricanes shut out by Sabres, fail to gain in Metropolitan

BUFFALO -- James Reimer made 33 saves to help the Buffalo Sabres extend their winning streak to a season-high five games with a 3-0 victory against the Carolina Hurricanes at KeyBank Center on Tuesday.

Tage Thompson scored for the fifth straight game with his 44th goal of the season, and Alex Tuch and JJ Peterka also scored for the Sabres (35-36-6), who are 8-1-0 in their past nine games.

“Whenever a goalie gets a shutout, it’s like, everyone looks at a goalie, right? And I’m sure I made some good saves tonight, but it’s a combination of we’re playing good, and I’m getting bounces and your teammates putting a heck of an effort in front of you,” said Reimer, who has won seven straight starts.

“I feel like I’ve been saying that a lot recently, and I thought tonight our battle and compete level in all three zones, but especially pertaining to me in front of my net, was phenomenal, blocked shots, tying up sticks. It was pretty impressive what we did tonight in front of me.”

The Sabres were eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention for an NHL-record 14th straight season when the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 on Tuesday.

“We want to continue to grow our game,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. “I thought tonight was another step against a really good team, a really tough team. We know where we’re at. I’m disappointed where we’re at and we can’t do anything with that, but we can work on our game and we’re going to continue to work on our game until it’s over.”

Pyotr Kochetkov made 15 saves for the Hurricanes (46-27-4), who failed to clinch home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Carolina has lost three straight and has scored four total goals in that stretch, including one in its past two games.

“We're in good shape, it's just we’ve got to get a little better,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We got to get a little more from our guys if we want to win. We obviously want to do that, and in the playoffs, we want to feel good about our game. … We still played a pretty decent game. It's just we’ve got to find a goal here or there.”

The Hurricanes are second in the Metropolitan Division, seven points ahead of the New Jersey Devils.

“It looks like we're just a little bit off our game,” said Carolina captain Jordan Staal, who returned to the lineup after missing four games with a lower-body injury. “Guys know where we're at and what we’ve got to accomplish here in the near future. But obviously, if we roll into the playoffs with that kind of game, it's not going to look pretty.”

Thompson gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 1:32 of the second period. He stripped Jackson Blake of the puck inside the Sabres blue line and carried it to the right circle before beating Kochetkov blocker side.

Thompson has eight goals during his career-best goal streak.

Bowen Byram sprung Tuch for a breakaway, and Tuch put a wrist shot five-hole for his League-leading sixth short-handed goal of the season to make it 2-0 at 16:45.

“I guess that’s nice [to lead the NHL], but we’re mostly focused on killing them off, and we’ve had some good penalty kills, I think, in the last handful of games,” Tuch said. “… I think we did a really good job on the kill tonight and then capping it off with a short-handed [goal] is always nice.”

Peterka pushed it to 3-0 when he buried a one-timer from the right hash mark off a pass from Jack Quinn at 1:58 of the third period.

“We’ve got to get more people at the net,” Brind’Amour said. “That's the old adage, right? But we did have a few that were real good opportunities. And give ‘Reims’ credit, he made some big saves. But we’ve got another level, that's for sure. It's obvious we've taken a little breather here since we kind of got in. You could feel it. I guess it's, I don't want to say it's kind of expected, but we’ve got to snap out of it here quick.”

NOTES: The Hurricanes did not allow a power-play goal, the 50th game in which they’ve done so. That ties them with the Dallas Stars for most in the NHL. … Staal played 15:22 and had one shot on goal in his return from injury. … Svechnikov returned after missing two games because of an undisclosed injury; the forward played 15:33 and had one shot on goal. … It was Reimer's first shutout of the season and 31st in the NHL. ... Reimer (37 years, 24 days) is the second-oldest goalie in Sabres history to record a shutout, after Craig Anderson (41 years, 206 days). … Reimer’s winning streak is his personal best and the seventh-longest run in Buffalo history. He’s the sixth goalie age 37 or older with a streak of that length in their first season with a team. … The Sabres have won seven straight home games for the first time since Oct. 22-Nov. 24, 1999.