Hurricanes score three times late in third, rally past Avalanche

DENVER -- The Carolina Hurricanes scored three goals in the final 2:56 of the third period to defeat the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 at Pepsi Center on Thursday.

Andrei Svechnikov tied the game 1-1 at 17:04 and Jaccob Slavin put the Hurricanes ahead 2-1 at 18:21 with a short side shot from the right face-off circle to finish off a 3-on-1 rush. Sebastian Aho scored into an empty net with 5.4 seconds to play.
"We got a really hardworking group up front," said Slavin, who converted a pass from Lucas Wallmark. "That's a really solid game that they played, getting chances and getting the grind game going. We just kept throwing pucks to the net, and that's kind of the nature of our game."
WATCH: [All Hurricanes vs. Avalanche highlights]
James Reimer made 27 saves for the Hurricanes (22-11-2), who stretched their point streak to seven games (6-0-1) and completed a five-game road trip 4-0-1.
"You know the cliché, a full 60 minutes, and it's there for a reason," Reimer said. "Tonight we just battled and grinded and we were able to find a way at the end. It's just belief, you never know what's going to happen.
"We knew going into this trip that it was going to be a grind and we were playing five really good teams when you look back on it. We're obviously really happy with it. We played five great teams and they brought it and we just found a way to grind it every game. It will be a fun airplane ride home."
Hurricanes coach Rod BrindA'mour said, "I can't say enough about these guys. I mean, we just dig in, all year really. We've had some bad periods and we always seem to bounce back."

Gabriel Landeskog scored and Philipp Grubauer made 37 saves for the Avalanche (22-10-3), who have lost two of their past three games and are 9-2-1 in their past 12.
"We're up 1-0 with three minutes to go with a chance to win the hockey game," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "To me, it's one or two plays at the end of the game; you got to be better than that."
Bednar was especially upset about the sequence that led to Slavin's goal.
"The second one bugs me," he said. "One-one hockey game, three minutes to go, they go down on a 3-on-1. Three different guys could have broken that up. Bad play and it's in the back of our net."
Colorado took a 1-0 lead at 4:05 of the third period on Landeskog's power-play goal. After accepting a pass from Landeskog along the left-wing boards, Nathan MacKinnon skated to the top of the face-off circles for a shot that Landeskog tipped in.
MacKinnon has nine points (three goals, six assists) in a seven-game point streak.

Carolina killed five of six Colorado power plays, three in the first period and two in the second that included a 5-on-3 for 21 seconds.
"We were having a good game, we just couldn't get out of the box and that was killing us," Brind'Amour said. "The guys stuck with it and you have to give them a ton of credit. We have a lot of tired guys who've been on the road forever and they just kept digging, so it's a pretty impressive win."
The Hurricanes began the game second in the NHL killing penalties (86 percent) and second on the road (87.3 percent).
"That's a really good hockey team over there," Bednar said. "Good speed, good grit, determination, great special teams. You got to grind, you got to earn everything you get. That's what they make you do."

They said it

"Lots of family here. Obviously just being in Colorado, grew up here and being able to play at the Pepsi Center. I remember playing here when I was a little mini-mite out on the ice during intermission. You get out here during a real game and just being able to contribute and to get the two points is huge for us."-- Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin, who was born in Denver
"We fight and work for the first 40 minutes of the hockey game and it was just kind of up for grabs. We knew it wasn't going to be pretty. We get one (goal) and then you got to be able to finish those games. I mean, those are the games that are playoff-type games. It's disappointing."-- Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog

Need to know

Aho has five points (three goals, two assists) in a three-game point streak and has 12 points (eight goals, four assists) in his past six games. … Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson returned after missing 11 games with a lower-body injury he sustained Nov. 23 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He played 20:47, had three shots on goal and blocked five shots. … Bednar benched defenseman Nikita Zadorov for the entire third period. "Coach's decision," Bednar said.

What's next

Hurricanes:Host the Florida Panthers on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; FS-CR, FS-F, NHL.TV)
Avalanche: Host the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday (9 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ALT, NBCSCH+, NHL.TV)