Hats off to Staal in Canes' victory

Eric Staal breaks out of his eight-game, goal-scoring slump with three goals, earning his fifth career hat trick. The Canes have now won three straight and their fourth in six home games

RALEIGH -- Henry and Linda Staal have three sons in the NHL, so they can't make all of Eric's games. The Carolina Hurricanes might want to ask to them to anyway.

With his parents at the RBC Center, Eric Staal broke out of an eight-game slump with a hat trick in the Canes' 5-2 win over the Phoenix Coyotes on Friday night. It was the Canes third straight win and fourth in six home games.

It was the first this season with the Staals in the building. Eric, the oldest of the NHL-playing brothers, put on a show with a goal in the first period and two in the second -- his first goals since Nov. 2.

"Now you have to come back," Staal told his parents and in-laws after the game.

He pointed to his group in the stands after the third goal, set up by Scott Walker's hustle with 45.1 seconds left in the second period. Walker beat the Phoenix defense to a loose puck behind the net and fed a charging Staal for a goal to give the Canes their first lead of the game.

Phoenix, which has lost four straight games, started with a rare power-play goal in the first period and converted an Anton Babchuk mistake into a 2-1 lead before Staal's surge.

The 24-year-old center had only an assist since Nov. 2 and one goal in his previous 12 games. He busted out of the mini-slump in the first period when he punched in a rebound of a Sergei Samsonov miss at 15:16.

"When he broke out, he broke out in a big way," said Canes winger Ray Whitney, who scored twice in the third period. "And he didn't score when it didn't matter, like I did, he scored when we needed him."

Staal, Samsonov and linemate Tuomo Ruutu created three scoring chances on the same shift. Samsonov lunged at the puck in the slot to keep it alive. His shot bounced off Phoenix goalie Ilja Bryzgalov's leg pad and Staal swatted it cleanly into the net for his first goal.

That tied the score at 1. Phoenix led 1-0 after Keith Yandle's sweet pass to Kevin Porter for a power-play goal. Porter's goal came after almost six minutes of the man-advantage -- and 38 seconds with two -- after a double-minor on Staal for high sticking and a separate high sticking penalty on Patrick Eaves.

Cam Ward, who finished with 26 saves, did the bulk of the penalty-killing which helped him win three straight for the first time this season.

Babchuk's giveaway in his own end led directly to Shane Doan's goal at 17:03 in the first. Babchuk couldn't clear the puck off the boards and Doan swooped in and beat Ward with a wrister from the left circle for the 2-1 lead.

Staal's second goal tied it on a pretty centering pass from Canes defenseman Joni Pitkanen. Pitkanen, who finished with three assists, now has five in five games since missing eight games with a knee injury.

Walker's hustle and Staal's timing accounted for the third on a night when trends were reversed.

"Star players can burn you at any time," Walker said. "He could have had four or five tonight."

Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky, who understands a thing or two about scoring in this league, predicted Staal would break out of his slump before Friday's game.

"I don't care who you are," Gretzky said before the game. "You go through stretches in your career where things don't go the way you want it to go."

In this instance, the legend wishes he was wrong. The Canes host Nashville on Sunday, maybe they'll bring the Staals back.