In Raleigh, the Hurricanes took a 2-0 lead into the middle frame on Thursday night and then had to hold off the Anaheim Ducks for a 6-3 win.
The two teams traded three-goal efforts in the second period.
“I thought we had a great first period. Their goalie made some great saves,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We had a little dip there in the start of second, didn’t love that. But the rest of it I thought was pretty solid.”
Pyotr Kochetkov got the start for Carolina, but left the ice after a collision with a Ducks skater at 12:55 of the middle frame.He made seven saves, surrendering three goals in the second period.
Antti Raanta made three saves in relief.
Carolina improved to 23-13-5.
The Hurricanes took a 2-0 lead in the opening stanza on goals from Brady Skjei at 16:00, and 15 seconds later from Andrei Svechnikov for the 2-0 advantage headed to the middle frame.
Anaheim dropped to 14-26-1.
“We were sleeping. I have no answer for that,” Anaheim coach Greg Cronin said. “‘Gibby’ kept us in the game. It easily could have been 5-0 after two periods.”
With 24 seconds of fresh ice used in the middle frame, the Ducks’ Isac Lundestrom connected to trim the deficit to 3-1 on a shot from the low slot.
Carolina replied with a marker from Jordan Martinook at 1:5 for a 4-1 lead to the Canes.
“This year, [Jarvis] has taken such steps,” Martinook said. “He’s turning into a very, very good player in this league. He’s playing pretty incredible, so I’ll try to ride shotgun with him.”
Anaheim replied with a pair of goals to tie the game, 3-3.
Ryan Strome answered that goal with a strike midway through the second for a 3-2 deficit for the Ducks.
Frank Vatrano hit off the power play at 10:53 of the second for the 3-3 tie.
“I don’t think we liked our start,” Vatrano said. “They were ready to play from the start. Their team has structure, so it’s hard to break structure when they’re playing with the lead.”
“It’s an offensively challenged group,” Cronin said. “In this generation in the NHL where you defensemen are involved in the second layers of offense like the Hurricanes, when you don’t have that that additional layer of attack, you’ve got to find creative ways to score.”
Four minutes later, Carolina responded with a strike by Stefan Noesen at 14:30 for a 4-3 advantage.
Just over two minutes later, the Canes’ Jack Drury potted a power play marker for a 5-3 lead headed to the third period.
“I still felt, in a two-goal game going into the third period, that we would drive some momentum in the third period,” Cronin said. “But they did a good job. They came out the first couple shifts and kept the puck in our zone. They’re a good hockey team. We couldn’t get shots on net.”
Seth Jarvis added a little salt to the wounds with a goal at 9:54 of the third period for the 6-3 final count on the scoreboard.
“We didn’t want to let them back in the game,” Jarvis said. “That power play goal by Jack was huge there at the end (of the second) to just kind of take the momentum away. When we find our game, we feel like we can win any night.”
John Gibson made 21 saves, yielding five goals before getting the hook in the second intermission.
Lukas Dostal made eight saves in a mop up role in the third period.
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