Zucker’s net-front residence has yielded offense at both 5-on-5 and on a resurgent Buffalo power play. Since Dec. 21, with Zucker a regular on the top unit, the Sabres have gone 9-for-28 (32 percent) with the man advantage, seventh best in the NHL during that span.

FINAL | Sabres 4 - Hurricanes 2 Lindy Ruff addresses the media Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen addresses the media Dylan Cozens addresses the media Ryan McLeod addresses the media The Sabres conclude their three-game homestand Friday versus the Pittsburgh Penguins. Tickets are available here.

The Sabres are going to need a long winning streak that probably has to be at least in the 8-game range. That, of course, is a problem for this team – which doesn't have a win streak of at least four games since January 2023.

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In order to beat the No. 2 team in the NHL, the Buffalo Sabres had to play well and I thought they did that, especially after a four game road trip, some late nights, some blown games and a flight home from Las Vegas on Sunday.

Ryan McLeod scored three goals for his first career hat trick and the Buffalo Sabres beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2.

Ryan McLeod scored his first-career hat trick and the Buffalo Sabres held on for 4-2 win against the visiting Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday.

Ryan McLeod registered a hat trick, one on the game's first shot, as the Buffalo Sabres held off the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-2, Wednesday night in a nationally televised game in KeyBank Center.

The Carolina Hurricanes are on the road to play the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday, Jan. 15, at 6 p.m. EST. Carolina (26-15-3) is coming off a 3-2 OT loss to Anaheim. Buffalo (16-22-5) is coming off a 6-2 loss to Seattle in a game they led 2-0.

Pittsburgh entered the Christmas break amid a 9-3-1 stretch but is 2-5-3 since then. The Penguins have been outscored 14-4 during their three-game slide, and blew a 2-1 lead Tuesday by allowing Seattle to score twice in a 50-second span during the third period of a 4-2 loss.

The Carolina Hurricanes will head north to Buffalo for a Wednesday night game against the Sabres. It’s scheduled to start at 6 p.m. ET and you can watch it on TNT and live stream it on DirecTV Stream (FREE trial and discount) or Sling TV (discount). The matchup Wednesday is the season’s first meeting between the two teams.

The Sabres survived despite becoming the first team in NHL shot tracking history (to 1965) to score a goal in a 20-minute period without a shot on goal.