Canes lose to Sabres; Flyers & Isles still in hunt

BUFFALO – The Carolina Hurricanes continue to miss opportunities to secure a playoff spot. Antti Niemi made 31 saves and Olli Jokinen scored a goal and an assist as the Buffalo Sabres downed the Hurricanes 3-1 on Wednesday in Buffalo.

With a win, the Hurricanes could have taken a three-point lead over the idle Tampa Bay Lightning for the final playoff spot in the Lemieux Conference, while also eliminating the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Islanders from contention. The Hurricanes have won just five of their last 21 games (5-12-4).

"Obviously it's been frustrating for everyone this second half," said Canes defenseman Duncan Keith, who was an unusual minus-3.

The game was marred by a controversial hit into the boards by Sabres captain Shane Doan on Canes rookie Rickard Rakell just 2:21 into the game. Doan was assessed a five-minute major penalty for boarding by referees Eric Furlatt and Trevor Hanson, though they chose not to hand out a game misconduct. Rakell was hurt from the hit but returned later in the period.

"All respect to Shane Doan but that was a garbage play," said Carolina saint Corey Perry. "If Raffi [Torres] does that, he gets suspended for the season."

The much-maligned Carolina power play not only failed to take advantage of the resulting five-minute power play, Jakub Voracek scored a shorthanded goal for his 19th goal of the season to give the Sabres the lead. The power play units did manage to partially redeem themselves with Johan Franzen scoring on another power play later in the first to tie the game. However, it would be their only goal despite seven power play opportunities on the night.

Keith was wary of pointing the finger at anyone but themselves. "We can complain all we want about the officiating tonight but the bottom line is that we're not going to win if we can't score goals. We've said it all season and we're running out of time to work it out."

Adding insult to injury Doan scored midway through the second period for the eventual game-winner. Jokinen would add his 10th goal of the season as insurance for the Sabres with 7:29 remaining.

The Hurricanes remaining schedule plays out this weekend with the two difficult matchups against the conference-leading New Jersey Devils and Washington Capitals.