Hurricanes storm back to beat Canucks
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Jeff Skinner, Ron Hainsey, Victor Rask and Justin Faulk scored in a span of 4:40 early in the third period as the Carolina Hurricanes erased a three-goal Vancouver lead to down the Canucks 8-6 en route their seventh straight home win Tuesday night.
Both goalies -- Carolina's Cam Ward in the second and Vancouver's Ryan Miller early in the third -- were pulled in favor of backups during each team's four-goal outbursts.
Jordan Staal, back in the lineup after missing seven games with a concussion, scored the game-winner with 7:22 left. But it wasn't without some drama down the stretch as former Hurricanes center Brandon Sutter scored his seventh of the season with 5:50 left and the NHL's No. 1 penalty kill unit had to survive a late power-play by the Canucks.
Lee Stempniak scored an empty net goal with 57.6 seconds to end Carolina's six-goal period.
Carolina (12-11-6) has now won eight of its first 11 at PNC Arena this season and snapped a seven-game winless streak against the Canucks, which dated to December 2011.
Meanwhile, the Canucks (12-16-2) have lost an NHL worst 11 games on the road and ended their five-game East Coast road trip 1-4, including three straight having allowed 14 goals.
Miller, coming off an ankle injury that sidelined him for two games, couldn't hold a three-goal cushion as Skinner started the third-period rally with his second power-play goal of the game 1:16 into the period to make it 5-3 and give the Hurricanes some life.
Hainsey, Rask and Faulk then added goals 1:42 apart to give the hurricanes the lead.
The Canucks trailed 2-1 after 20 minutes but owned the second period, chasing Ward -- off to the best start of his 12-year career -- early in the second. Goals by Alexandre Burrows and Markus Granlund 1:13 apart gave Vancouver a 3-2 advantage as the Hurricanes' defense was outworked and Ward was caught deep in his net on both goals.
Ward was replaced by Michael Leighton, but the Canucks continued their offensive showcase, getting two more against the Carolina backup, including Ben Hutton's fourth after a turnover by Stempniak in the high slot, and Sven Baertschi's second of the game as a Carolina power play expired. The left winger took a nifty centering pass from Henrik Sedin for a three-goal cushion entering the third.
The two teams traded goals two minutes apart early in the first period with Carolina's Sebastian Aho and Baertschi each recording their fifth goals of the season before Skinner notched his team-leading 10th on a power play midway through the period as the Hurricanes grabbed a 2-1 lead.
NOTES: The Canucks beat the Hurricanes 4-3 on Oct. 16 as part of a season-opening four-game winning streak. ... Since Nov. 8, Cam Ward has started in net in 16 of 18 games for Carolina. ... Ward came into the game with a 2-5-2 record and 3.33 goals against average in his career against Vancouver. ... Canucks C Brandon Sutter was Carolina's first round selection in 2007 (11th overall) and was traded to Pittsburgh as part of the Staal deal in June, 2012.