Buffalo Sabres vs. Carolina Hurricanes
When: 7:00 PM ET, Saturday, December 17, 2016
Where: PNC Arena, Raleigh, North Carolina

TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG-B (Buffalo), FSN Carolina
PREDICTION: Hurricanes 3 Sabres 2

Oddsmakers currently have the Hurricanes listed as 150-moneyline favorites versus the Sabres, while the game’s total is sitting at 5.

RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes and Buffalo Sabres will meet three times in less than a month starting Saturday night at PNC Arena, with each team coming off different outcomes in games that were pushed past regulation 24 hours ago.

The Sabres continued their good play recently with an overtime victory Friday night at home against the New York Islanders, while the Hurricanes saw their seven-game home winning streak end in a 4-3 shootout loss to Washington.

Buffalo won the season series against the Hurricanes 3-0 last year and is 6-3-2 in its last 11 games.

In general, the Hurricanes have had difficulties holding third-period leads, and that was the case again against the Capitals with Carolina allowing the tying goal with 6:04 left in regulation.

“We’ll be back in there again,” coach Bill Peters said of the matchup against Buffalo. “This loss (to Washington) wasn’t for a lack of chances. We were pushing, we were aggressive, we stayed on our toes.”

Washington had just seven shots midway through the game, but then started to play more physical against a Carolina team that likes to skate and play fast.

“We want to compete and make them pay on the scoreboard when teams get physical with us,” Peters said. “When it’s physical let’s dig in. It’s Christmas time so it’s better to give them receive.”

Peters admitted that a few players were “dinged up” after the Washington game but he’ll likely go with the same lineup as he did Friday night,’ including goalie Cam Ward, who will be making his 19th start in the last 21 games.

“The nice part is we come back and do it again,” Jeff Skinner said of the back-to-back scenario. “We sometimes have gotten away from our game trying to protect the lead. We have to stay on the forecheck and keep doing good things.”

“There are ways of making it easier on ourselves and finding ways to win games,” added Jordan Staal.

The Sabres, despite a slow start to the season, have the attention of Staal and his teammates.

“They are playing well and there is never an easy game in this league. We’re going to need these points to keep moving forward,” he said.

Buffalo has been one of them more injury-riddled teams in the league but is now starting to get healthy.

“If you asked me at the 22-game mark I don’t think we had gotten our identity of our team and how we wanted to play because of injuries to key guys, but we’ve played some good hockey and had some good games,” said Buffalo coach Dan Bylsma. “But here recently we’ve started to get some players back and you’re seeing how our ream can play. Look at some of the games we’ve taken over. That’s really kind of getting to how we’re going to play moving forward.”

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Carolina Hurricanes vs Los Angeles Kings
When: 10:30 PM ET, Thursday, December 8, 2016
Where: Staples Center, Los Angeles, California

TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, FSN Carolinas, FSN West (Los Angeles)
PREDICTION: Kings 3, Hurricanes 1

LOS ANGELES — After a three-day break, the Los Angeles Kings will try to make their way back to the winners’ circle as they host the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday at Staples Center.

The Kings have been off since Sunday, when they were dealt a 5-4 loss in a shootout by the Montreal Canadiens. The Kings (13-10-2) were 5-0 in extra periods before Sunday’s setback.

Six of the game’s goals, a season-tying four by the Kings, occurred in the second period and allowed Los Angeles to grab a 4-3 advantage before fading in the end. Nick Shore and Trevor Lewis also tallied for the Kings.

“The pucks were just going in; I don’t know why that was,” said Kings defenseman Drew Doughty, who scored on a power play during the barrage and earned his second multi-point game of the season. “Both teams were flying and a couple times we got the lead and let them back in it and that was our downfall. When you get the lead, you want to get the next goal right away and kind of carry it away from them, but they were able to capitalize pretty quick after we got the lead.”

Center Jeff Carter, who scored a power-play goal against the Canadiens, continued his hot streak for the Kings, who have captured six of their last eight contests. Carter remains the club’s points leader with 21 (11 goals, 10 assists) and has been a steady force behind the team’s recent fortunes along with linemates Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson.

Center Anze Kopitar, who recorded three assists in the setback to the Canadiens, defenseman Alec Martinez, and Toffoli all have produced 14 points for the Kings.

Kopitar, who has a club-high 12 assists, is two shy of 700 for his career. He also remains a goal away from tying Wayne Gretzky for sixth on the Kings’ all-time list with 245.

The Hurricanes (10-10-6) are playing the second end of a back-to-back. The Hurricanes dropped a disappointing 6-5 shootout decision to the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday night at Honda Center.

Carolina held a 5-3 lead in the final five minutes of regulation before allowing Anaheim to score a pair of goals within 91 seconds of each other to force the extra sessions.

Anaheim’s Nick Ritchie delivered his sixth goal by redirecting a slap shot by Cam Fowler from the blue line with 3:59 remaining. With 2:28 left, Corey Perry ended a drought of 18 consecutive games by scoring his fifth goal on a shot from the right circle to knot the score at 5.

“They worked their way through the neutral zone on us way too easy,” Hurricanes defenseman Ron Hainsey said. “Two of the goals were right off the rush, and the other one was tipped in.

“We do a really good job most of the time of clogging up the neutral zone and not giving up anything. But we got a little too free-flowing through the neutral zone and gave up some chances.”

The Hurricanes have lost six of their last eight games. Before their loss to the Ducks, Carolina scored no more than two goals in each of their previous seven road games.

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Carolina Hurricanes vs. Anaheim Ducks
When: 10:30 PM ET, Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Where: Honda Center, Anaheim, California

TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, FSN Carolina, FSN West (Anaheim)
PREDICTION: Ducks 4, Hurricanes 1

Oddsmakers currently have the Ducks listed as 170-moneyline favorites versus the Hurricanes, while the game’s total is sitting at 5.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Carolina Hurricanes will miss one of their leaders when they begin their road trip in California on Wednesday night against the Anaheim Ducks at the Honda Center.

Center Jordan Staal, one of the team’s three alternate captains, has not recovered from a concussion he suffered Nov. 27 in a 3-2 victory against the Florida Panthers. Staal skated at the Hurricanes’ training complex in Raleigh, N.C., on Monday but as coach Bill Peters told the Raleigh News & Observer, “it didn’t go great.”

Staal will have missed seven consecutive games once the trip ends. Carolina faces the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night and finishes the trip against the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night.

Staal’s absence puts more pressure on an offense that scored only 58 goals, the second-lowest total in the Eastern Conference. In their past five road games, the Hurricanes have only seven.

“We have to find a way to score more,” Peters told NHL.com. “We’ve got to be willing to do the right things in order to score. I want to see more guys in the blue paint. I want to see guys making it harder on the goaltender. If we do that, we’ll be successful.”

For Carolina defenseman Justin Faulk, doing the right things goes beyond getting more guys in the blue paint of the goal crease.

“It’s not necessarily just the guys in front,” Faulk told NHL.com. “It’s getting shots from the inside, being able to work to get inside the dots and create chances ‘in the house.’ To generate more offense and score more goals, we’ve got to be able to work our way inside and make it tough on them.”

Backup goalie Eddie Lack will also stay behind because of a concussion but forward Elias Lindholm and defenseman Ryan Murphy will make the trip. Lindholm missed the past two games because of a lower-body injury, and Murphy finished his conditioning assignment with Charlotte of the AHL.

Meanwhile, the Ducks are concerned about goalie John Gibson and left winger Rickard Rakell, their second-leading goal scorer. Both missed Sunday’s 8-3 rout by the Calgary Flames. Gibson had the flu while Rakell nursed an upper-body injury. Both skated in Tuesday’s practice, with Rakell wearing a non-contact jersey.

“I’m starting to feel better,” Rakell told NHL.com and added that he is “just taking it day by day, hoping it gets even better tomorrow.”

If Rakell cannot play, Nick Ritchie likely would take over his spot on the Ducks’ top line with center Ryan Getzlaf and right winger Corey Perry.

Anaheim’s quest for consistency collides with a quick opponent seeking only its fourth road win this season.

“We’re going to have to be ready for a Carolina team that can really skate and push the pace of play,” defenseman Cam Fowler told NHL.com. “They have an aggressive style of play. Some teams will set up in a neutral-zone trap or a controlled forecheck, but they don’t really do that. If they have an opportunity to pressure the puck, they will. They rely on their skating to get them back into games.”

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The Islanders clinched an Eastern Conference playoff spot despite a 4-3 shootout loss to the Hurricanes on Tuesday night. With the point they received by reaching overtime, coupled with a loss by the Winnipeg Jets at Washington, the Islanders secured a place in the playoffs for the first time since 2007.

“We got the point, and we secured our spot,” defenseman Andrew MacDonald said, “so we couldn’t be happier.”

John Tavares scored the goal that effectively sent them to the postseason, tying it with 1:01 left in regulation.

“We got our game going, and we got contributions from everybody and started to figure out what it takes to win,” Tavares said, reflecting on the season. “And you know we’re happy to be there and give ourselves an opportunity to compete in the playoffs. A lot of us haven’t had that experience.”

Josh Bailey and Brad Boyes also scored, and Evgeni Nabokov made 29 saves for the Islanders.

Riley Nash and Jeff Skinner scored in the shootout to give the Hurricanes the victory. Nash’s score came on his first career shootout attempt and only came about because coach Kirk Muller caught him showing off some moves during the morning skate.

“We just winged it, to be honest with you,” Muller said. “He had a couple good moves and, you know what, let’s see if he can do it in the game. … If I didn’t see him do it this morning, we probably wouldn’t have opted to do it.”

Carolina’s Jordan Staal had a goal and an assist, Patrick Dwyer and Alexander Semin added goals, and Dan Ellis made 36 saves before stopping Frans Nielsen and Boyes in the shootout.

Nash and Skinner beat Nabokov with wrist shots in the shootout to help the Hurricanes sweep the soon-to-be division rival Islanders and earn their first consecutive wins since March 9-12.

“We’re starting to find our identity, and that’s important going into next year,” Ellis said. “For us to come up with big games against teams that are going to be in our division next year, it was a great effort. We really started to get our work boots on, play a smarter brand of hockey and we did really well tonight and got a big win.”

In earning a point for the 11th straight game, the Islanders (8-0-3 in April) wiped out three one-goal deficits — and the last came in dramatic fashion.

“It wasn’t our best game, but we found a way to get a big one late and get the point that we needed,” Bailey said.

Tavares made it 3-3 when his shot clicked off Carolina defenseman Justin Faulk’s skate and past Ellis. The goal originally was awarded to Kyle Okposo, but a review determined that he never touched the puck. Okposo finished with two assists.

Before that, the Hurricanes thought their third victory over the Islanders was firmly in hand.

Carolina went up 3-2 with 2:15 left in the second when Dwyer snapped a loose puck past Nabokov — the third in a series of short-lived leads for the Hurricanes.

Staal and Semin also put them up briefly, only to have the Islanders respond with tying goals. Staal made it 2-1 by scoring on a redirection with 3:40 left in the first, and Semin scored the first goal off a pretty give-and-go-feed from Eric Staal.

But Bailey and Boyes each erased those deficits. Bailey’s goal came on a rebound and made it 2-2 at 7:34 of the second. Boyes forged the first tie at 6:04 of the first when Mark Streit’s cross-ice pass clicked off his skate and past Ellis.

Game notes

New York C Keith Aucoin hit the crossbar on a breakaway about 4 1/2 minutes in. Michael Grabner struck the right post with about 3 minutes left in overtime. … Carolina’s Tuomo Ruutu drilled the right post against an open net with about 12 1/2 minutes left. … Hurricanes C Jiri Tlusty, who assisted on Staal’s goal, has points in six straight games.

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Tlusty scored twice, Semin had a goal and two assists and Staal chipped in with a pair of assists — all in the first period — to lead the Hurricanes to a 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday night.

Dan Ellis stopped 34 shots to make a 3-0 lead stand up and help Carolina to its first win over Tampa Bay this season.

“We came out hard, and that was the difference in the first period,” Tlusty said. “We kept it going throughout the game.”

Semin scored for Carolina 16 seconds in, taking a feed in the slot from Staal and whipping it over the shoulder of Lightning goalie Anders Lindback.

Tlusty’s first goal came shortly after the Hurricanes failed to score on a power play when he dumped the puck on goal from inside the blue line and it bounced off of Lindback’s pads and into the back of the net.

Later in the period, Tlusty was stationed in front of the net and was in the perfect position to direct a deflection off of Staal’s shot past Lindback.

“I don’t know what the problem is with us in first periods,” said Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman. “We always battle back hard from being down in games, which is the good part, but we would rather be up a few goals in the first instead of behind.”

The Lightning, who lost their sixth straight game, got on the board with a power-play goal from Steven Stamkos in the second period — his 28th goal of the season.

Martin St. Louis added a third-period goal to narrow the deficit to 3-2 but Ellis turned away the final 12 shots he faced, including point-blank opportunities by Eric Brewer, Ryan Malone and B.J. Crombeen.

“(Ellis) stepped up and had a good, strong game,” Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller said. “That’s what you need from him. His performance was good.

“They’ve had our number recently, but I think it was just important to us because we had a tough game last night and the guys have been playing so hard through the stretch. We got off track last night and we wanted to get back on track tonight and do the right things and we did.”

With less than 20 seconds left, the Lightning pulled Lindback and created a lot of traffic in front of Ellis but could not tie the game.

“I have gotten lit up by this team forever so this was a good night,” Ellis said. “They play with a lot of pride and so do we. We are not pushing for playoff spots but we are pushing to honor our fans, honor the crest on our jersey.”

St. Louis got his league-leading 42nd assist on Stamkos’ goal and his 55 points are only one behind injured Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby for the league lead.

Game notes

Staal thought he had a goal in the second period but officials declared his shot deflected off Brewer’s skate but did not completely cross the goal line. A video review upheld the call. … In their previous four contests this season, the Lightning outscored the Hurricanes 18-4. … Semin has 31 assists this season. … The Lightning outshot the Hurricanes 16-4 in the third period.

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The Oilers will miss the playoffs for a seventh consecutive season after losing 3-1 to the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday night.

Taylor Hall scored for the Oilers (17-20-7), who have lost seven of their last eight games and were officially eliminated from the playoffs for yet another season. The string of futility stretches back to their loss in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final against the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006.

“To have another season where we’re out of the playoffs, another season where we’re playing meaningless games at the end of the year, is very frustrating,” Hall said. “It’s something we’re not proud of.”

Oilers captain Shawn Horcoff, who has been with the team for the entire seven years, said it hasn’t been an easy process.

“It’s tough, it’s been extremely tough on me,” he said. “We made some steps and at least this year we got some meaningful games in, gave ourselves a chance to get in, but it fell off as of late.

“I think we’re moving in the right direction. It’s just a little slower than we’d like.”

It was a badly-needed victory for the Ducks (28-11-6), who got goals from Cam Fowler, Kyle Palmieri and Corey Perry to help the team snap a four-game losing skid and move closer to clinching the Pacific Division crown.

“It was a step closer to where we want to be,” said Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf. “There are still mistakes that we need to eliminate going into the playoffs, but this was a much-needed win tonight and one that I felt we deserved. It’s all about playing the right way going into the playoffs. This was a step in the right direction.”

The Ducks can clinch the division with another win over the Oilers in the rematch in Edmonton on Monday.

“It’s great to have a win again after what has been happening for the last little while,” said Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller, who stopped 27 shots. “We knew that we needed to play better, but sometimes it is not that easy. Tonight I think that everybody worked a little harder and that made the difference.”

Edmonton had a quick start, scoring exactly one minute in when Hall notched his 15th of the season as he came in off the boards to beat Ducks starter Jonas Hiller between the legs with a wrist shot from the right face-off dot.

The Ducks evened it up with just 1.1 seconds remaining in the period as Oilers center Jerred Smithson broke his stick on the faceoff and Fowler was able to pick up a rebound and bank in his first of the year off goalie Devan Dubnyk’s pads.

Anaheim took a 2-1 lead with just under a minute to play in the second period when Palmieri tried to get a pass through to Teemu Selanne on a 2-on-1, but the pass was blocked by a diving Ladislav Smid. However, Palmieri was able to dig the puck out from under Smid and deposit his 10th of the year behind Dubnyk.

The Ducks went up 3-1 midway through the third when Ryan Getzlaf made a great move to walk around Smid and then sent a backhand pass in front for Perry, who had an easy tap-in for the goal.

The Ducks hit the post twice with Dubnyk pulled for the final two minutes.

Game notes

It was the second of three meetings between the two teams this season. Anaheim came in as the winners of their last nine in Edmonton and 12 of the last 14 meetings overall. … The Oilers announced Sunday that 2011 first overall draft pick Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is out for the remainder of the season as he likely requires shoulder surgery. … Edmonton Fs Ales Hemsky (foot), Eric Belanger (groin) and Lennart Petrell (leg) are also probably done for the year. … Anaheim was missing Luca Sbisa (upper body) and D Sheldon Souray (lower body).

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General manager Jim Rutherford disclosed the severity of Pitkanen’s injury Wednesday.

Pitkanen was hurt with 1:57 left in the second period of a 5-3 loss to Washington on Tuesday night. He raced down the ice while trying to beat an icing call and went hard into the boards with the Capitals’ Troy Brouwer near him.

He was on the ice in obvious pain and was taken off on a stretcher with his hands covering his face.

The Hurricanes say he broke his left calcaneus bone and is expected to be out 10-12 weeks.

Pitkanen has one goal and eight assists in 22 games for the Hurricanes, who have lost nine of 10.

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The Hurricanes will receive a sixth-round draft pick if the Penguins win the Stanley Cup this year, a source told ESPN.com’s Pierre LeBrun.

The acquisition of Jokinen is the latest improvement made recently by the Penguins, who also have added Jarome Iginla, Brenden Morrow and Douglas Murray ahead of Wednesday’s NHL trade deadline.

Jokinen, who turned 30 on Monday, has six goals and five assists in 33 games this season, his fourth full campaign with the Hurricanes.

Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford confirmed the trade on his official Twitter account.

An eight-year veteran, Jokinen has 121 goals and 225 assists in 569 career games with Carolina, Tampa Bay and Dallas. He enjoyed his best season in 2009-10, when he scored a career-high 30 goals with the Hurricanes.

“We thank Jussi for his great service to our organization during the last five years,” Rutherford tweeted. “This deal is important for our team’s financial flexibility moving forward.”

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The team announced Ward’s diagnosis Monday and said the former All-Star goalie will not require surgery.

The team says Ward suffered a third-degree sprain to his medial collateral ligament midway through the second period of Sunday night’s 3-2 win at Florida.

He hurt his left knee when teammate Justin Faulk slid into him while the defenseman tried to stop Florida’s Jack Skille from skating toward the net.

The team-issued timeline places Ward’s potential return in mid- to late-April. The regular season ends April 27.

The injury makes backup Dan Ellis the team’s No. 1 goalie. Ellis is 3-2-1 with a 2.53 goals-against average in his first season in Carolina.

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Ruutu recently had hip surgery and is expected to be out until at least early May.

The Hurricanes were aggressive in the offseason in adding Alexander Semin and Jordan Staal up front. But their spending started earlier last year, when they signed Ruutu to a four-year, $19 million contract extension in February, preventing him from hitting unrestricted free agency this summer.

Until signing that extension, Ruutu was the trade target of a number of contending teams near the deadline.

The versatile Ruutu finished last season with 18 goals in 72 games for the Hurricanes.

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