Recap: Canes Score Five Consecutive To Beat Wild

RALEIGH, NC. -The Carolina Hurricanes earned a quality win on Thursday, taking a 5-2 victory from the Minnesota Wild.

The Story

Returning to game action for the first time in four days, the Canes squandered a big opportunity to take control of the contest in the first period. Gifted three power play opportunities, the home side went 0/3, overcomplicating their efforts and struggling to hit the net.
And so as play moved to the second scoreless, it was then ironically Minnesota who opened the evening's scoring on their first man advantage. Kirill Kaprizov stuffed one by Frederik Andersen, etching his 100th NHL goal.
With momentum fully on their side, it felt as if the Wild were in a prime position to take control of the contest. Instead, a response for Carolina just 1:50 later completely flipped the game in favor of the home team.
During a sequence where Marc-Andre Fleury was without a stick, Andrei Svechnikov set up Brent Burns for a game-evening tally.

The goal served as the first of what would become five consecutive markers for Carolina, who advanced their lead to 3-1 before the end of the second frame. A power play goal from Brady Skjei and a shorthanded marker from Teuvo Teravainen just 3:49 apart then ignited Carolina's special teams, planting them firmly in front.
In the third, Jalen Chatfield recorded his fourth goal in his last eight games, and Martin Necas netted the Canes' second power play goal of the evening to make it 5-1.

Minnesota was able to find twine once more before the final horn, but that would conclude the evening's scoring.
However, before the game could reach the final horn, an event that seemingly overshadowed the game's final score transpired. While on the power play inside the final minute, forward Max Pacioretty went down with a non-contact injury. Needing to be helped off the ice, the veteran forward appeared to be unable to put any weight on his right leg.
Pacioretty was playing in just his fifth contest of the season after missing the start to the season with an Achilles injury. #67 made his team debut on January 5 against Nashville, but did not play in either of the team's contests over the weekend due to a lower-body injury unrelated to the one that caused him to miss the first three months of the season.

They Said It

Rod Brind'Amour,immediately post-game regarding the injury to Pacioretty...
"It doesn't look good. I mean, we don't know, but it doesn't look good... Hopefully it's not as bad as we think, but I'm not too optimistic right now."
Brind'Amouron Frederik Andersen, who stopped 29 en route to the victory...
"That was maybe the best game he's played for us. He's played some really good games, but we were giving up too many good ones. But timely saves are so important and he looked really good in there tonight."
Brady Skjeion setting a new career-high with his 10th goal of the season...
"It's a goal that I've been shooting for for a little bit. It's nice to hit that. I just want to keep moving forward and keep shooting the puck... I feel like I've been fortunate to be in some good situations to be able to put the puck into the net. There have been some great screens by the forwards and I've been lucky enough to put them in lately."

Bonus Notes

• Frederik Andersen moves to 3-0 since returning from injury last Thursday, after missing over two months with a lower-body injury.
• The Canes advance to 28-9-8 with the victory.

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What's Next?

The Canes are scheduled to practice and fly to New York on Friday ahead of a Saturday evening matchup against the Islanders.
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