In Raleigh Tuesday night, the Vancouver Canucks took their foot off the gas pedal in the third period and paid a heavy price.
The Carolina Hurricanes entered the third period trailing 5-2 and overwhelmed the Canucks in a six-period barrage as they defeated Vancouver, 8-6.
Jeff Skinner scored two goals in the win and Sebastian Aho, Victor Rask, Justin Faulk, Lee Stempniak, and Jordan Staal all had markers for the Canes.
“It was a fun game,” said Staal, who scored in his return after missing seven games with a concussion. “I’ve only been a part of a few of those. I hope the fans enjoyed it. I know we did.”
It was not so much in the second period when the Canucks scored four unanswered goals in the frame to take the 5-2 lead into the third.
“They got some chances to roll around offensively and have some zone time,” Skinner said. “We didn’t do a good job working together and getting our feet moving.”
Sven Baertschi scored twice and Brandon Sutter, Alexandre Burrows, Ben Hutton, and Markus Granlund scored for the Canucks.
“I don’t know if we got rattled,” Canucks head coach Willie Desjardins said. “They’ve got a pretty good power play. You don’t want to give up that early one to get them going and get them excited. The next one was just a shot from the point that found its way in. All of a sudden they’ve got lots of momentum.”
WATCH: All Canucks vs. Hurricanes highlights
Neither starting goalie finished the game with Cam Ward replaced by Michael Leighton.
“We were legless throughout the lineup. It looked like the puck was a 10-pound weight on our stick; it just hung on our stick. We couldn’t move it, we couldn’t get any speed. But they just hung in there and did a great job,” Carolina head coach Bill Peters said of his team’s early effort.
Ryan Miller got the hook for Jacob Markstrom in the Canucks’ net.
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