Coming off of a 5-3 loss against New Jersey, Jhonas Enroth and the Sabres responded with a 1-0 shutout over Carolina at the RBC Center on Friday night.
Jason Pominville scored his eighth goal of the season after he knocked home a loose puck on the power play to give Buffalo a 1-0 lead. The goal extended Pominville’s point streak to six games (3 G, 5 A). With an assist on the play, Thomas Vanek’s point streak (1 G, 4 A) improved to four games.
Enroth stopped all 34 shots he faced as he recorded his first shutout of the season and his second of his career. Both of his shutouts came by way of a 1-0 score.
At the other end, Brian Boucher received the start in net for Carolina, giving him his 6th appearance for the Hurricanes this season. Although he stopped 19 of 20 shots on the night, it wasn’t enough since the Hurricanes couldn’t get on the scoreboard at all.
While Enroth played a large part in the victory, the Sabres special teams came up big. The penalty killing was a perfect 3-3 on the night and the power play went 1-2.
The Sabres played five games last season that ended up with a 1-0 score, and that does not include the two games that occurred in the series against Philadelphia.
With the loss, the Hurricanes have dropped three in a row and are 14th in the Eastern Conference and a -22 goal differential is worst in the conference.
Carolina fell to 0-7 when trailing after the first period.
Eric Staal has just eight points in 20 games for Carolina this season, and is a league worst -18. The Hurricanes have some issues to iron out.
Meanwhile, the Sabres improved to 7-2 on the road and are just one point behind the Flyers for first place in the Eastern Conference.
The Sabres will host Phoenix tomorrow at 7 p.m.