The Carolina Hurricanes won one of their wildest games in recent memory Tuesday night at PNC Arena, coming back from down 5-2 entering the second period for an 8-6 win, the Canes’ seventh straight victory on home ice.
The Hurricanes (12-11-6) scored four goals in a span of 4:40 early in the third period to take the lead. The team’s new line of forwards Jeff Skinner, Victor Rask and Derek Ryan combined for three goals and six assists. Canucks (12-16-2) forward Sven Baertschi had two goals and an assist.
“I give the guys all the credit in the world,” head coach Bill Peters said. “We knew how big that power play was to start the third period. We knew if we had a successful power play, we could get momentum from that. Obviously, we got the ultimate payoff with the goal and it did give us momentum.”
The Canes got on the board quickly in the game, courtesy of a nice passing play off the rush, as defenseman Brett Pesce fed forward Sebastian Aho in the slot for a 1-0 lead.
Vancouver tied it about two minutes later, as forward Sven Baertschi came up with a loose puck and slipped it past Ward.
The goal fest continued not two minutes after the Canucks tied the game, as Skinner finished off a rebound on the power play to make it 2-1.
The second period was one of the worst of the season for Carolina. The Canes played loose defensively, and the Canucks got goals from Baertschi, forwards Markus Granlund and Alex Burrows, and defenseman Ben Hutton to take a 5-2 lead to the intermission.
“We were legless; there was an inability to do anything,” Peters said. “I’ll take some of the blame for that; we probably skated too much coming off the west coast trip. We were legless throughout the lineup. I said to Roddy [assistant coach Rod Brind’Amour] and Smitty [assistant coach Steve Smith] that it looked like the puck was a ten pound weight on our stick.”
The Canes came out roaring in the third, scoring four goals in 4:40 to take a 6-5 lead.
The team got things rolling on a beautiful tic-tac-toe pass on the power play, as Rask fed a pass across the ice to Ryan, who found Skinner in the crease for a tip-in to make it 5-3 less than two minutes into the final period.
“Coming out of the intermission we needed to at least gain some momentum, if not score a goal,” Skinner said. “It’s a good opportunity for the power play to execute and we did a good job of that. I thought we were able to build off that.”
Carolina wasted little time cutting the lead to one, as a point shot from defenseman Ron Hainsey beat Miller to make it 5-4 Canucks about three minutes after Skinner’s goal.
The Hurricanes tied the game on the shift right after Hainsey’s goal, as Ryan made another heads-up play, zipping a cross-ice pass to Rask that he batted in to tie the game at five.
The fun didn’t stop there, as defenseman Justin Faulk wristed one in from the faceoff circle to give the Canes a 6-5 lead with 14:04 to play, ending the Vancouver starter’s night as the Canucks opted to replace him with Jacob Markstrom.
“I give them credit; they found a way,” Peters said. “They got excited; the bench was vibrant in the third. It was night and day between the first and third.”
Carolina picked up an insurance goal with just over seven minutes to play, as forward Jordan Staal, playing his first game after missing seven with a concussion, put a rebound past Markstrom to make it 7-5.
The Canucks got one back shortly after, as former Hurricane Brandon Sutter pulled them within one.
Forward Lee Stempniak iced the game with an empty netter to make it 8-6 with 57 seconds remaining.
