Carolina Hurricanes Win a Barn Burner 5-4 Against the Arizona Coyotes

The Carolina Hurricanes come out on the right side of a barn burner against the Arizona Coyotes, pick up a 5-4 win on home ice.

Scoring Summary

1st Period

ARI Goal (0:49) – Tobias Rieder (6), asst. by Stefan Elliot (2), Anthony Duclair (7)

The Arizona Coyotes got on the board first, and they did it quick. Under a minute into period one, Elliot threw a shot on Cam Ward, and he gave up a juicy rebound to Rieder in front, and he put in on the wide open goal to gives the ‘Yotes a 1-0 lead.

CAR Goal (2:18) – Kris Versteeg (3), unassisted 

After being a healthy scratch on Saturday, Versteeg made his presence known early on in Sunday’s game. Lindholm got stick checked in the slot, and the puck went right to Versteeg. He then scored on a quick turnaround wrist shot to tie the game at 1.

ARI Goal (16:55) – Niklas Grossmann (3), asst. by Brad Richardson (6), Jordan Martinook (4)

As the Coyotes established good zone presence late in period 1, defenseman Niklas Grossman snuck down the left wing undetected, and Richardson hit him with a cross-crease pass that he took advantage of and made it 2-1.

CAR Goal (18:36) – Jay McClement (1), asst. by Noah Hanifin (4), Ron Hainsey (6)

The Carolina Hurricanes got the puck deep late in period 1, and Jay McClement’s hustle got him their first. He picked up the puck and attempted a wrap around. Lindback made the save, but McClement picked up his own rebound and tied the game at 2.

2nd Period

CAR Goal (6:27) – Eric Staal (5), asst. by Elias Lindholm (5), Kris Versteeg (13)

On a great shift from the Carolina first line, Versteeg forced an Arizona turnover, the puck went to Lindholm who had a partial breakaway at a bad angle, so he circled back, showed great poise, and hit Staal in the slot. He made no mistake and ended his 15-game goal drought to give the Canes a 3-2 lead.

3rd Period

ARI Goal (6:34) – Stefan Elliot (2), unassisted

A weak goal, even for Cam Ward’s standards, made this one a 3-3 game in the third period. Elliot sent a weak backhander on net, and hit Ward’s pad, rolled up and went into the goal. It was a goal he’d want back, but it knotted things up.

ARI PPG (13:41) – Antione Vermette (3), asst. by Mikkel Boedker (11), Oliver Ekman-Larsson (12)

The Coyotes picked up their 2nd lead of the game with a quick powerplay goal from Vermette. Ward was sprawled out and out of position, which gave Vermette an easy chance on the rebound.

CAR Goal (15:38) – Ron Hainsey (3), asst. by Andrej Nestrasil (5), Joakim Nordstrom (4)

Hainsey continues to deliver in clutch times for the Canes, and this time, he ties the game at 4 with a quick wrist shot from the slot.

CAR PPG (19:43) – Justin Faulk (9), asst. by Victor Rask (8), Eric Staal (11)

Justin Faulk ripped home a wrist shot from the point on the man advantage with just 17 seconds to go, and it beat Anders Lindback clean. That goal secured a 5-4 win in front of their home crowd.

Three Stars

1st Star – Eric Staal (CAR) – 1 goal, 1 assist, +1, 5 shots, 2 hits, 16:47 TOI

2nd Star – Elias Lindholm (CAR) – 1 assist, +2, 1 shot, 1 hit, 16:22 TOI

3rd Star – Justin Faulk (CAR) – 1 goal, +2, 3 shots, 2 hits, 23:43 TOI

Recap

In one of the wildest games of the season for the Carolina Hurricanes, the home team came out with a massive 5-4 win over the visiting Arizona Coyotes.

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Both goalies, Anders Lindback and Cam Ward, struggled all night. The two goalies allowed 9 goals on 41 shots. The Canes won this game and only had 18 shots on net. Luckily, the quality was better than the quantity, and they put 5 pucks into the net, including one with just 17 seconds to go in the 3rd period.

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It was a sloppy, ugly game throughout. A big first period of play opened itself up for many goals. It was a 2-2 hockey game through 20 minutes, but things died down a bit in the 2nd frame.

Eric Staal broke through for the only 2nd period goal, and it happened off of a good forced turnover from Kris Versteeg then a good pass from Elias Lindholm. The Canes entered period 3 with a 3-2 lead, and Staal said in the intermission that this team needed to find a way to finish.

Through the first 14 minutes of period three, it looked like they might not close things out. The team entered the final 5 minutes of regulation down by a goal. That was until Ron Hainsey and Justin Faulk both came up big and sent the crowd home happy.

The Canes first line of Kris Versteeg, Eric Staal, and Elias Lindholm was dominant offensively. They made the difference in the game, chipping in on a pair of even strength goals against the Coyotes.

Justin Faulk had another standout performance, and he showed up when it counted. He netted the game-winner with just 17 seconds to go. Many defensemen looked a bit slow and tired coming off the back-to-back, but Faulk looked solid all night and finished with a +2 rating.

The win wasn’t pretty. There were a lot of mistakes, a lot of sloppy goals, and some poor goalie play, but at the end of the day, the final score is what matter. The Hurricanes win their 2nd game in under 24 hours and end their 3-game homestand with a 2-1-0 record.

Next: Canes Make Big Roster Moves

The Carolina Hurricanes will now hit the road to take on the NHL-leading Dallas Stars on Tuesday night, followed by games in Anaheim, Arizona, and Philadelphia.