The Buffalo Sabres (14-24-3) visit the Carolina Hurricanes (12-24-4) tonight for game three of their four game trip. The Sabres have yet to earn a victory in 2015 and hope to play a better first period than they have in the past two games.
This is the second of three meetings between the teams this season. Buffalo won the first game back on October 14th, with Zemgus Girgensons getting the game winning goal in the shootout. This is the only time the Sabres will visit the Hurricanes and the teams’ final meeting of the season is scheduled on April 6th, one of the last games in the regular season.
In the midst of a five game losing streak, the Sabres are looking to end their slump as they will get forward Drew Stafford back in the lineup. Stafford missed last game as he spent time with his wife as she delivered their first child. Buffalo have scored three goals over the past four games and Josh Gorges said he knows the team has to start giving everything it has.
“You’ve got to be a little bit pissed off, a little bit embarrassed,” Josh Gorges said. “And to come out and have half the guys doing that and half the guys not – and we’re hesitant and we’re nonchalant – whether it’s the start of the game, the second period, the end of the game, we can’t have it.”
Although the Sabres have defeated some good teams this season, they haven’t been able to stay consistent.
“That’s maybe even more disappointing than at the start of the year because we’ve shown that when we want to do the right things, when we want to play together, when we want to compete hard, we can play,” Gorges said. “And we’re not going to win every game, but we can compete.
“We’ve beat some of the top teams in the East and we’ve beat L.A. and some good teams out West. The potential is there. So when you don’t have it and we don’t play the way we’re supposed to, that’s frustrating.”
The Hurricanes are coming off a 3-2 road loss to the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night, but they have won their past two home matchups.
“We made a tough play on the game-winner. We turned it over in the neutral zone, and then we didn’t figure it out. We over back-checked coming into the zone,” head coach Bill Peters said. “Enough breakdowns and it cost us the opportunity to have a point or maybe two.”
Eight of the last nine game the Hurricanes have played have been decided by one goal.
Tonight’s game is scheduled for 7 p.m. and can be seen on MSG.