Jordan Staal had the first hat trick of the season for the Carolina Hurricanes in a 5-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday evening in Raleigh, N.C.
Andrei Svechnikov had a goal and an assist, Nino Niederreiter had two assists, and Frederik Andersen made 23 saves for the Hurricanes (47-18-8, 102 points), who moved two points ahead of the New York Rangers for first place in the Metropolitan Division with nine games left.
Josh Mahura and Troy Terry scored as John Gibson made 38 saves for the Ducks (29-33-12, 70 points), who were coming off a 5-3 win at the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night. The Ducks surrendered two goals in the first 2:28 before eventually rallying for the win.
Anaheim quickly fell behind 2-0 against the Hurricanes as well. Svechnikov scored on a one-handed redirection for a 1-0 lead at 1:17.
Staal made it 2-0 at 5:07. The Ducks won the faceoff in their zone, but Niederreiter stole the puck in the corner and made a backhand pass from below the goal line to Staal for the one-timer.
Mahura cut it to 2-1 at 6:12. The Ducks won the puck back on the forecheck, and Mahura’s wrist shot from the left point got through to the net.
Carolina made it 3-1 at 9:30 after another win on the forecheck. Svechnikov passed the puck to Max Domi, who made a short cross to Jordan Martinook for the goal.
Terry cut it to 3-2 at 11:46 when he swept in a rebound as he fell to the ice. The Hurricanes challenged for goalie interference, but the goal stood and the Ducks went on a power play for delay of game.
Staal scored his second goal of the game off a rebound to make it 4-2 with 6:18 left. He scored his third into an empty net with 1:08 remaining to make it 5-2.
Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf was a minus-3 in 16:23 in his first game since announcing he’ll retire at the end of this season, his 17th with Anaheim. Getzlaf had missed the previous five games and 14 of 16 with injuries.
–Field Level Media