The Carolina Hurricanes were flat in their series opener against the Montreal Canadiens after a 12-day layoff, but the Canes called upon some former Buffalo Sabres to pull out Game 2 and even the series with a 3-2 overtime win in Raleigh on Saturday. The Hurricanes fourth line, which consisted of all ex-Sabres Eric Robinson, Mark Jankowski, and William Carrier, combined for Carolina’s opening goal 2:33 into the first period.
Robinson played seven seasons under GM Jarmo Kekalainen in Columbus and 40 games for Buffalo in 2023-24, scored his second goal of the playoffs, after being set up by Carrier, who played three seasons with Rochester and the Sabres before being claimed by Vegas in the expansion draft in 2017 and winning a Cup with the Golden Knights in 2023. Jankowski, who played 19 games for Buffalo in 2021-22, had two helpers on the night, including setting up Nikolaj Ehlers for the game-winner at 3:29 of overtime.
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Former Sabres team captain Jack Eichel is having another excellent post-season with the Vegas Golden Knights. Eichel is second in the NHL in playoff scoring with 18 points, and scored the tying goal and set up Ivan Barbashev’s game-winner in a 3-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Friday.
Some current and former Sabres are playing in the IIHF World Championships in Switzerland. Ryan O’Reilly is second to Macklin Celebrini in scoring for Team Canada with seven points (5 goals, 2 assists). Henri Jokiharju has six points (2 goals, 4 assists) with Finland, while Dylan Cozens has four goals for Canada in six games.
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Konsta Helenius, who scored two goals in four games against Montreal after replacing the injured Sam Carrick, has played two games for Finland and has an assist.
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