Sabres Back at Home to Host Hurricanes

The Sabres finally return home tonight, after going 3-1-1 on the five game road trip.

Buffalo host Carolina, who defeated the Capitals by a 4-3 score in overtime last night. The Hurricanes are 14th in the Eastern Conference and the league’s worst road team.

Carolina are just 8-14-8 on the road, but that doesn’t make tonight’s game an easy match at all. The Sabres’ offense has had trouble scoring all year, with 163 goals on the season, tying them for 2nd fewest in the East.

The Sabres missed an opportunity to take 8th place against Winnipeg on Monday, but can move to two points back with a win tonight.

“We knew that they would probably be a fresher team,” Ruff said. “It’s disappointing to have it 1-1 after almost 50 minutes and make the mistake that we made. We could have been in a lot better position if we at least got a point tonight, and that is the part that stings.

“I didn’t talk about the road trip,” Ruff replied when asked about his post-game message to his club. “I talked about how we let a point slip away. We don’t have that luxury.”

Ward is 4-1-1 over his last six meetings with Buffalo, including wins in both starts this season.

The Sabres have dropped two of the first three against Carolina, and tonight will be the final matchup.

Tonight’s game is scheduled for 7 p.m. EST.