Canucks rally late, defeat Hurricanes in shootout

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Vancouver Canucks ended a four-game losing streak by rallying for a 4-3 shootout win against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena on Sunday.

Ethan Bear, J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser scored, and Andrei Kuzmenko had two assists for the Canucks (18-22-3), who won for the second time in nine games. Collin Delia made 29 saves.
"It's been pretty much one-goal games this whole time," Vancouver captain Bo Horvat said. "We fought our way back and at least made it interesting in a lot of games. To finally get rewarded tonight definitely feels good."

Paul Stastny, Jordan Martinook and Sebastian Aho scored, and Jaccob Slavin had two assists for the Hurricanes (27-9-8), who were coming off a 2-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. Pyotr Kochetkov made 29 saves.
"We weren't very good. We were flat, tired. You could just tell," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "We were fighting it all night. They were good, but we were not."

Aho put the Hurricanes ahead 3-2 with 2:52 remaining in the third period, receiving a spinning pass from Teuvo Teravainen at the Canucks' blue line and scoring on a breakaway.
However, Boeser tied it 3-3 with 17 seconds left when he put in the rebound of Horvat's shot with Delia pulled for the extra skater.
"I think they earned that. They've been coming so close," Vancouver coach Bruce Boudreau said. "Even in the third, I thought we were playing really good, and they score with three minutes to go. But again, they said, 'No, we're not giving up,' and they went out there and scored and we got the shootout win. So it's great."

Delia made three saves in overtime to get the game to the shootout, including stretching his right pad to deny Slavin from in tight with four seconds left.
"We didn't try to overcomplicate it in our own zone or in the neutral zone," Delia said. "We got pucks deep, we had good retrievals, good support, good back pressure. I think our habits were really good tonight."
Stastny gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 2:25 of the first period. Andrei Svechnikov curled at the left point before sending a diagonal cross-ice pass to Stastny for a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle.
Martinook scored his 10th of the season to push the lead to 2-0 with 34 seconds left in the first. He roofed a shot from in front after his initial backhand attempt ricocheted to him off Vancouver forward Conor Garland.
"The second half of a back-to-back, you have to find a way to create your own energy," Martinook said. "It's a hard league, you've got to create that energy somehow. We were trying. It just wasn't 100 percent there tonight."
Bear cut the lead to 2-1 at 17:52 of the second period. Kuzmenko sent a cross-ice pass to Bear, who had pinched in and scored glove side from the right circle.
It was Bear's first game against the Hurricanes since he was traded to the Canucks on Oct. 28.
"It was an emotional game for me. I had a lot to prove tonight," Bear said. "To score tonight, it felt great on top of the win. They're a really good team over there. They do everything right. It just shows that we can do it, too. As long as we stick to it, we're right there."
Miller tied it 2-2 at 7:35 of the third period, chipping the puck in with his backhand after his initial shot from the high slot hit off the right post.
NOTES:Vancouver was also playing the second of a back-to-back. … Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal was scratched for personal reasons. ... Aho extended his point streak to five games (two goals, five assists). … The Hurricanes played their 15th overtime game of the season, the most in the NHL. They are 4-6 in overtime and 3-2 in the shootout.