Hurricanes defeat Stars in shootout, sweep two-game set

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Jordan Staal had a goal and an assist for the Carolina Hurricanes in a 4-3 shootout win against the Dallas Stars at PNC Arena on Sunday.

James Reimer made 26 saves through overtime and two more on three attempts in the shootout for the Hurricanes (5-1-0), who swept the two-game set against the Stars and have won four in a row. Dougie Hamilton and Vincent Trocheck scored in the shootout.
"We're very happy with the way we're playing," Staal said. "It's our identity we've wanted to build for the last few years. We were fortunate to get a few bounces, but that happens with a lot of hard work."
Nino Niederreiter scored to tie the game 3-3 for Carolina with 2:35 remaining on a slap shot from the left face-off circle.
"I knew I didn't have a lot of speed going, so I knew I had to take that shot and risk it, going far side, high," Niederreiter said. "I'm glad it went in."

Jamie Benn had a goal and an assist, and Anton Khudobin made 37 saves for the Stars (4-1-1), who lost 4-1 to the Hurricanes on Saturday. Alexander Radulov scored in the shootout.
"The result is obviously not what we wanted," Benn said. "They're a good team. They came out flying. I thought we got better as the game went on. We're right on the brink of being really dangerous."
Benn scored on a wraparound at 12:00 of the third period to give Dallas a 3-2 lead. He missed the previous four games with a lower-body injury.
Staal scored on the power play to give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 1:58 of the first period when he screened Khudobin in the low slot and tipped Hamilton's one-timer for his first goal of the season.
Jamie Oleksiak tied it 1-1 when he put in the rebound of Benn's shot at 7:47 of the second period.
"In the second period, 5-on-5, we started carrying the play," Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "So that looked a lot more like the Dallas Stars. We had some great opportunities, a couple of posts, and that carried over into the third."
Brock McGinn put Carolina ahead 2-1 with a shorthanded goal at 16:32. Staal forced a turnover in the neutral zone and fed a backhand pass to McGinn for a shot under Khudobin's right pad.

Andrew Cogliano tied the game 2-2 at 7:38 of the third period on a wrist shot from the left circle off Blake Comeau's cross-ice pass on a 3-on-2.
"It's nice to contribute whenever you can," Cogliano said. "Comeau] made a great pass across the ice, and when you get opportunities like that in this league, you've got to make the most of them. It was a big goal for our team, and I was happy to contribute for that."
The Hurricanes turned in a strong performance on special teams, killing all five of their minor penalties and scoring shorthanded and on the power play. They have played the past three games without defenseman Jaccob Slavin and forwards Warren Foegele,
[Jordan Martinook
,
Teuvo Teravainen
and Jesper Fast on the penalty kill due to NHL COVID-19 protocol.
"Special teams are so important because it's just so hard to score 5-on-5," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "Everybody is dialed in on how to defend. The whole (penalty) kill in general has been great. It's been different guys having to figure it out."
NOTES:Stars defenseman Andrej Sekera was placed in the COVID-19 protocol Sunday. … Benn had four shots in 19:55 in his first game since the season opener Jan. 22. ... Hamilton is 4-for-6 in the shootout … Forward Drew Shore played 8:35 in his Hurricanes debut, his first NHL game since April 9, 2017, with the Vancouver Canucks. … The Stars were outscored 7-4 and went 1-for-11 on the power play in the two games. In their first four games, all wins, they outscored their opponents 19-6 and went 10-for-19 with the man-advantage.