Eichel helps Sabres end 6-game skid
BUFFALO, N.Y. - Chad Johnson made 27 saves, Jack Eichel got his eighth goal of the season and the Buffalo Sabres beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 on Friday night to end a six-game losing streak.
Josh Gorges, Brian Gionta and David Legwand also scored for Buffalo, and Jamie McGinn had two assists. The Sabres had lost their last four home games.
Victor Rask scored Carolina's only goal, and the Hurricanes failed to pick up a point for the first time in five games.
Shots through traffic were the primary source of offense early in a game featuring sloppy passing and chippy play.
Buffalo had scored just seven goals on its season-long losing streak.
Cam Ward stopped 11 of 14 shots before being replaced by Eddie Lack after two periods. Lack stopped 6 of 7 shots.
The Sabres opened the scoring when Gorges' bouncing shot through traffic took a turn off Ward and trickled just over the line at the 10:35 mark.
It was Gorges' first goal in 130 games. He hadn't scored in 69 games with Buffalo and last scored for Montreal against Vancouver on Oct. 12, 2013.
Carolina tied it up about 5 minutes into the second period after Gionta gave the puck away deep in the Sabres zone. Johnson stopped Eric Staal's initial shot, but Rask jammed the rebound across the line.
Eichel broke the tie with a wrister that went high and hard over Ward's right shoulder with 7:36 left in the second.
Gionta and Matt Moulson ran a give-and-go that ended with Gionta redirecting a hard pass inside the near post to make it 3-1 just 22 seconds before the end of the second period.
Buffalo beat Lack 6 minutes into his shift. Cody Franson pinched in from the left point to grab a loose puck behind the Carolina net and then fed Legwand up front. The veteran wristed a low shot past Lack to make it 4-1.
NOTES: Sabres F Tyler Ennis missed a second-straight game with an upper-body injury. ... With five wins, Johnson has beaten Carolina more than any other team, while Gorges has eight points against the Hurricanes, the second-highest total for the defenseman against a single team. ... The win is Buffalo's 100th all-time against the Carolina/Hartford franchise.