RALEIGH - For all the talk about Carolina and Buffalo being mirror images of each other, the two teams looked markedly different in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals Saturday.

And in the second period, the Hurricanes didn't even look like themselves.

This series is supposed to be a display of skating and passing between two of the swiftest and most fluid teams in the NHL.

But this wasn't synchronized skating comes to the Stanley Cup playoffs. It was two teams sometimes awkwardly trying to figure each other out.

The Canes lost 3-2 after a furious closing push failed to bring a repeat of the dramatic late tying goal that broke New Jersey in Game 2 of the semifinals.

But the Canes learned enough in losing the opener that they now may know enough to win the series.

Buffalo skates well, plays sticky defense and has a rookie goalie in Ryan Miller who will make Carolina earn its goals.

Buffalo's strongest quality is opportunism. The Sabres didn't look better Saturday than the Canes. They did look more dangerous.

The Sabres scored on their first flurry of the game. They scored when Carolina defenseman Mike Commodore overplayed a rush and Buffalo's Daniel Briere buried the puck with what was for him a rare backhand shot off his sharply curved stick.

They scored when defenseman Jay McKee came out of the penalty box, got the puck, looked to pass and then decided to try a shot -- goal!

"It seemed like every time we had a breakdown, it ended up in our net," Canes coach Peter Laviolette said.

It wasn't a case of bad luck. The Sabres made their good luck. But it was a case of the Canes not quite appreciating that they have to do more than outplay Buffalo. They have to beat them.

That means limiting mistakes and playing all three periods. Carolina knows that, of course, but after winning eight of its past nine playoff games and waiting through a five-day layoff, the Canes needed to be reminded.

"They're quicker off turnovers and stuff than the first two teams we played," said Commodore, who scored late to bring the Canes within a goal.

"I think that was evident on the first two goals. Our strong-side [defense] just got caught. It was me on the second one. Just a hair, just one step and that's all it takes. We have to be a little more aware."

After a hustling first period that ended 1-1, the Canes came out so flat in the second that Laviolette considered calling a timeout to wake them up.

He didn't. Now he wishes he had. Instead, the Canes snoozed in a room full of pickpockets.

Midway into the second period, Briere slipped his shot past Canes goalie Cam Ward, and Buffalo took a lead it wouldn't give back.

The long layoff was one of two X-factors that worked against the Canes but weren't their fault. The playoffs shouldn't have five days between series. When teams are on a roll, let them roll.

The other was the RBC Center crowd. The rising prices of playoff tickets drove away some regular Canes fans. It opened the door to an influx of Buffalo fans who took some of the edge off what is supposed to be the NHL's loudest house.

Where is the Canes' advantage when fans are cheering for the Sabres?

"In the warm-up, when they started chanting, 'Let's go, Buffalo,' right away we knew the atmosphere was kind of special," Briere said.

When the co-captain of the visiting team finds the atmosphere "kind of special," you've given away something you shouldn't.

The Canes can't control the schedule or who buys tickets. But they can control how they'll adjust. They'll do it not by expecting the Sabres to look like them, but by getting back to looking like the Canes all game long.

For two periods, the Canes were the better team Saturday. In the third, they dominated Buffalo, outshooting them 17-8 and setting up a Cory Stillman shot to tie that went wide instead of in.

Brind'Amour said winning two periods isn't enough. Learning is the only benefit of losing.

"You can dominate a team, but at the end of the day, it's the scoreboard," he said, "I think the fact that we know how we're going to have to play in order to win, that's about it. You can't take much other than that."

But if the Canes do take that, they'll take the series.