VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The Carolina Hurricanes broke open a tie game in the third period Tuesday night, getting second goals from three different players in the final frame to beat the Vancouver Canucks 6-3 at Rogers Arena.
Nicolas Deslauriers, a fourth-liner better known for his penalty minutes than his scoring, put Carolina ahead for good at 4:07 of the third. Set up by Bradly Nadeau from behind the net, he redirected a quick shot from the edge of the crease past Leevi Merilainen to make it 4-3. It was only the fifth multigoal game of his 714-game NHL career.
Nikolaj Ehlers stretched the lead on a breakaway at 10:22, and Logan Stankoven finished the scoring with an empty-net goal at 17:57 off a 2-on-1 feed from Ehlers.
The game was tight for two periods. Stankoven opened the scoring at 4:44 of the first, Linus Karlsson answered for Vancouver, and Ehlers tapped in a cross-ice pass from Jackson Blake to restore the lead before Jonathan Lekkerimaki tied it on a power play with two seconds left in the period. Deslauriers and Max Sasson traded goals in the second.
Blake finished with three assists, and the line of Blake, Ehlers and Stankoven, together for the first time this season, combined for four goals and nine points. Sebastian Aho was stopped on a penalty shot late in the second after Elias Pettersson threw his stick at him.
Pyotr Kochetkov made 14 saves and is now 6-0-0, the second-longest season-opening win streak in franchise history. Merilainen stopped 38 shots for Vancouver. A crowd of 17,250 watched the game, which took 2 hours, 32 minutes.
Carolina improved to 8-2-1 and has won eight of its last nine, bouncing back from a 3-2 loss at Calgary on Sunday. The Hurricanes have beaten the Canucks six straight times. Vancouver fell to 2-8-1 with its eighth consecutive loss.
Section: More Raleigh NC sports news
Raleigh sports business profiles
Filed under: Raleigh NC Sports News
