Analysis from Raleigh
→ The box score reads more like a football score than a hockey one, but it's two points that the Carolina Hurricanes will gladly take. With a six-goal third period, the Hurricanes defeated the Vancouver Canucks 8-6 and extended their home winning streak to seven games.
"It's fun to get on a little roll like that," said Jeff Skinner, who scored twice and registered a three-point night. "It's fun to get a win like that. The fans were into it, it was a really good atmosphere and loud. It was nice to get the two points."
"Crazy, crazy. I give the guys all the credit in the world," head coach Bill Peters said. "We knew how big that power play was at the start of the third period. We knew if we had a successful power play, whether it scored or not, we could get momentum from that. Obviously we got the ultimate pay-off with the goal, and it did give us momentum."
Recap: Canes Score Six in Third to Defeat Canucks
→ Down 5-2 to begin the third period, it took just four minutes and 40 seconds for the Hurricanes to erase the three-goal deficit and reclaim the lead, likely the most frantic and exhilarating sequence inside PNC Arena this season.
"It was a fun game. I've only been a part of a few of those kind of games. They're fun," Jordan Staal said. "Hopefully the fans enjoyed it. I know we did."
It began a power play, one the Hurricanes knew was a potential game-changer. Establish some momentum with a number of chances or score a goal, and who knows? It starts with one.
"We knew coming out of the intermission we needed to at least gain some momentum, if not score a goal," Skinner said. "It was a good opportunity for the power play to execute, and we did a good job of that. We were able to build off that."
"We knew before the third even started that was a big power play; whether we scored or not, we had to get some momentum off that just to give ourselves a chance to be in the game," Derek Ryan said. "Getting a goal was the best situation there. It wasn't just that PP shift, but the shifts after we just continued to gain momentum."
On the power play, Skinner scored his second of the night, both on the man advantage. The Canes' leading scorer was parked at the top of the blue paint and finished off a pass from Ryan, who tallied a trio of assists.
"I'm pretty blessed to play with two really good players," Ryan said. "If I can find them around the net, the puck usually ends up in the net. It makes my job pretty easy."
"All of a sudden, the power play got us going, and I couldn't even tell you the sequence of events from that point," Peters said.
Three minutes later, the Canes pulled within a goal when Ron Hainsey's point shot floated through traffic and in. For whatever reason, the officials spent an inordinate amount of time reviewing this play before determining it to be a good goal. This actually proved to be beneficial for the Hurricanes, who were able to keep the Skinner-Rask-Ryan trio on the ice - and they were absolutely dominant all night. Sure enough, just 24 ticks after the ensuing faceoff, the Hurricanes tied the game. Skinner rushed to poke the puck away from two Vancouver defenders over to Ryan, who then found a streaking Rask for his 10th of the season.
"Can't complain about that," Ryan said.
"The beautiful thing, too, the review was quick, so that allowed me to go right back to the Rask line," Peters quipped. "I wouldn't have been able to go back to that line if that review wasn't as efficient as it was."
As if that didn't electrify the crowd enough, Justin Faulk's goal at the 5:56 mark of the third period, which reclaimed the lead for the Hurricanes, sent the building into an absolute frenzy.
"You could definitely feel the energy climb in the building. That's hockey right there," Ryan said. "You can feel the momentum changing."
"You can feel the buzz in the building. You can feel the fans getting into it and the guys feeling confident," Staal said. "The other team, it tenses up. It's tough. Throughout my career, I've been on both sides of it. When there's blood in the water, sometimes teams keep coming. That's what we tried to do. We kept feeding off the momentum. The fans were great, and it was a lot of fun."
→ The Hurricanes found the net twice more in the third period, as Staal stretched his team's lead to two goals and Lee Stempniak's empty-netter scored the two-point conversion - to borrow a football phrase - and cemented Carolina's win.
Tonight marked the first time the Hurricanes scored six goals in a period since March 7, 2009, when they potted six in the second period to defeat Tampa Bay 9-3. Additionally, the team's four goals in 4:40 is the fastest such stretch since Feb. 8, 2007, when the Canes tallied four in 4:21 in a 5-2 win at Boston.
Peters was asked after the game when he had last seen a game like the one that unfolded on the ice tonight.
"I haven't seen it at this level, I'll tell you that," he pondered. "1987. 9-8 game against the Czechs in the Viking Cup. That's the last time I've seen it."
→ Remember the first game between these two teams this season? It was the second game in a row in which the Hurricanes saw a three-goal lead dissipate before falling in overtime. Perhaps tonight was retribution for that.
"There's wild swings throughout the league all the time. It's just the reality," Peters said. "You've got to know how to play in those situations. We've been in them so much now that I think we're very comfortable with it. … We're learning as we go and getting better, there's no question."
→ As thrilling as the third period was, the second period was the complete opposite. It was an abysmal 20 minutes, in which Vancouver fired 18 shots on goal and scored four goals to turn a 2-1 Hurricanes advantage into a 5-2 Canucks lead.
Cam Ward was replaced by Michael Leighton in the crease after the Canucks scored two goals within 73 seconds to take a 3-2 lead. It was a move not reflective of Ward's body of work, but rather one to spark a listless home club that appeared to still be on West coast time.
"When we pulled the goalie, by no means was that a reflection on the goaltender. We were looking for a spark, for something. Whether that had anything to do with it, I don't know," Peters said. "I'll tell you right now, we're going right back to Wardo when we play Washington on Friday."
The Hurricanes were able to dig deep and ride the momentum wave in the third period, but prior to that, they didn't have much.
"We didn't do a good job of working together and getting our feet moving," Skinner said.
"We were legless. It was an inability to do anything. We were legless," Peters said, suggesting that perhaps the Hurricanes skated too much coming off the California trip. "It looked like the puck was a 10-pound weight on our stick. It just hung on our stick. We couldn't move it or get any puck speed. They just hung in there and did a great job."
→ In the first period, the Hurricanes jumped out to a 2-1 lead thanks to goals from Sebastian Aho and Skinner, who has now scored against every team in the NHL.
"He wants to be a difference maker. He wants to score, and he's hungry to score. He scored from the blue paint again here tonight," Peters said of Skinner. "He's been good for us, and we need him to be good."
→ That's seven in a row for the Hurricanes at home. The team's four-game homestand continues this weekend when the Washington Capitals and Buffalo Sabres come to town on Friday and Saturday night, respectively.
"You talk about turning points all the time, the ones that got away and the ones that you somehow steal a point," Peters said. "I like our team. I like our commitment to doing it right. We were willing tonight."
