Hurricanes 5, Sabres 3: Red-hot Alexander Semin scored twice and defenseman Andrej Sekera added a goal and two assists to lift visiting Carolina to its third win in four games.

Semin and ex-Sabre Sekera scored the tying and go-ahead tallies 2:25 apart in the third period and Jeff Skinner netted his 22nd goal for the Hurricanes, who beat Buffalo for the fourth consecutive time. Jiri Tlusty recorded an empty-net goal and an assist while Anton Khudobin turned aside 26 shots to win for the second time in as many nights.

Cody Hodgson, Brian Flynn and Tyler Ennis tallied for the Sabres, who have dropped five in a row (0-3-2). Jhonas Enroth made 28 saves to remain winless since Oct. 25 (0-8-3).

Hodgson capitalized on a miscue by Jay Harrison at the red line, blowing past the Carolina defenseman and beating Khudobin to the glove side with a bullet from the right faceoff circle midway through the opening period. A giveaway by Buffalo blue-liner Alexander Sulzer led to the equalizer just over two minutes later as Skinner skated in, turned his back to the net and rifed home a backhander from near the bottom of the right circle

Flynn swept home a rebound from his knees after Phil Varone was stopped on the doorstep at 3:20 of the middle session, but Semin answered with a laser from the top of the right circle just under 10 minutes later. Ennis put the Sabres ahead again 48 seconds into the third, only to see Semin counter by burying a backhand pass from captain Eric Staal for his sixth goal in four games. Sekera followed with the go-ahead tally with 10:10 to play.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Ennis has three goals and four assists during his career-high seven-game point streak. ... Semin's four-game goal-scoring streak is the longest by a Carolina player this season. ... Making his NHL debut, Varone earned his first point on the tally by Flynn - which snapped a 13-game goalless drought.