Hurricanes lose to Sabres, 4-3

Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Carolina Hurricanes made it look close, but lost 4-3 to the Buffalo Sabres at First Niagara Center on Monday.

Following a 3-2 shootout win over Philadelphia on Saturday, the loss to the NHL’s last-place team showed a lackluster effort early on in front of 19,070 in attendance.

The Hurricanes trailed 4-0 before responding late in the second period to attempt a comeback.

Patrick Dwyer, Alexander Semin, and Eric Staal all scored in succession for Carolina while goaltender Cam Ward made 21 saves in the loss.

The Sabres’ offense got contributions from four different scorers as Mikhail Grigorenko, Brian Gionta, Johan Larsson, and Tyler Ennis provided the just reward for netminder Anders Linback’s 49-save effort.

“I think we’ve got to learn from tonight – tonight wasn’t good enough on the road to win in the National Hockey League,” Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said.

“You can’t give up four goals this time of year and expect to win.”

While dominating in the faceoff circle, winning 70 percent of all draws, and heavily outshooting Buffalo 52-25, Carolina recorded only six hits and allowed the Sabres to take advantage of their opportunities.

It wasn’t the type of effort that the Carolina coach expected of his team in playing Buffalo for the third and final time this season.

The Hurricanes had previously suffered a 4-3 shootout loss in Raleigh on Oct. 14 before dominating the Sabres 5-2 at PNC Arena on Jan. 8.

“I didn’t think we played with a proper sense of urgency or enough physical commitment in the offensive zone to be heavy on pucks,” Peters concluded.

“In the defensive zone, I don’t think we were physically involved either.”

Carolina will face the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena on Tuesday.