Game Recap: Hurricanes 4, Wild 3

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Jackson Blake and Sean Walker each had a goal and an assist, and the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Minnesota Wild 4-3 at Lenovo Center on Thursday.

Andrei Svechnikov and Nikolaj Ehlers also scored, and Frederik Andersen made 21 saves for the Hurricanes (9-4-0), who have won two in a row and three of their past four.

“Blake is probably the one who needs the most credit for tonight,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “The one goal was all him, and the other was just a great pass.”

Matt Boldy scored two goals for the Wild (5-7-3), who had won two straight. Filip Gustavsson made 23 saves.

“They’re a high-pressure team. There were times I thought we handled it well, and there were times when there was another good team on the ice too,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “I thought we got to the net. We got some looks in different segments of the game.”

Boldy gave the Wild a 1-0 lead at 5:34 of the first period. After Hurricanes forward Mark Jankowski accidently slipped the puck under Andersen, Boldy tapped in the loose puck in the slot.

The teams then combined for three goals in 52 seconds during a frantic 4-on-4 sequence.

Blake tied the game 1-1 at 12:53 for Carolina, finishing an end-to-end rush with a snap shot past Gustavsson’s blocker.

“It was 4-on-4, so a little more ice than usual,” Blake said. “I just kind of winded it up a little bit. I think it was kind of a broken play, so that played a factor into it.”

Just 21 seconds later, Kirill Kaprizov set up Brock Faber for a snap shot in the right circle to put Minnesota up 2-1 at 13:24.

"Sweet play by (Marcus Johansson) and a good play by Kirill, and I just shot it hard. I don’t really know where it went,” Faber said. “It was a good effort from us. We had our chances, and it [stinks] not getting two points.”

Carolina tied the game 2-2 at 13:45. Svechnikov took a pass from Alexander Nikishin in the neutral zone, skated to the left circle and shot between the legs of Minnesota defenseman Jake Middleton for a short-side goal.

Walker scored his second goal in as many games five seconds after a power play ended with a wrist shot from inside the blue line to give Carolina a 3-2 lead at 16:51.

“We definitely have talked about getting a lot more pucks to the net,” Walker said. "(Seth Jarvis) made a great pass to me, and when I looked up, I knew I could definitely get it past the first guy. And luckily it was a good screen, I think by [Faber].”

Boldy redirected a pass from Vladimir Tarasenko near the left post for a power-play goal that tied the game 3-3 at 37 seconds of the second period.

The Hurricanes answered nine seconds later when Blake set up Ehlers for a backdoor tap-in off a Minnesota turnover to give Carolina a 4-3 lead at 46 seconds. It was Ehlers’ second goal in as many games after not scoring in his first 11 games with Carolina.

Hurricanes defenseman Jalen Chatfield left the game in the first period after a hit by Tyler Pitlick, who was given a match penalty for a hit to the head. There was no update on Chatfield after the game.

“The blue line has been tough. They have been fighting and working hard and finding ways to dig in,” Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said. “It’s been good to see. Resilient is a key word for those guys.”

NOTES: Johansson has nine points (five goals, four assists) in a seven-game point streak. … Staal skated in his 910th game with the Hurricanes, passing his brother, Eric Staal, for the most since the franchise relocated to Carolina for the 1997-98 season. He is third in Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers history behind Ron Francis (1,186 games) and Glen Wesley (913). … Staal won 10 of 12 face-offs. … Walker has back-to-back multipoint games for the first time in the NHL after earning a goal and an assist in Carolina’s 3-0 win against the New York Rangers on Monday. ... K'Andre Miller, who missed the previous six games with a lower-body injury, had an assist, two shots and three takeaways in 23:13.