McElhinney, Hurricanes knock off Leafs 5-2

The Toronto media swarmed around Carolina Hurricanes goalie Curtis McElhinney after the morning skate Wednesday, which was understandable.

The Canes were hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs and the best storyline was McElhinney, who was facing the team that put him on waivers in early October.

“It should be a fun challenge,” McElhinney said. “They have so many weapons and it certainly will be a challenge. The biggest thing for us is to get out to a good start again.”

The Canes got that good start by scoring the first two goals of the game as defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk and team captain Justin Williams scored in the first period. Micheal Ferland added a power-play goal in the third period, and Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov had late empty-netters in a 5-2 victory at PNC Arena.

“It’s huge,” Ferland said. “Coming in, we wanted to make a statement we can play with any team and we played really good tonight.”

McElhinney, composed in net, finished with 30 saves for his fifth win of the season for the Canes (10-8-3), who celebrated after the game by breaking out of a circle at center ice and spreading to all corners of the rink to hop into the glass.

“It was good, McElhinney said. “I’m not going to lie. It was a tough way to leave Toronto, with the situation. It’s a huge win for us considering where they are in the standings.”

The Leafs (15-7-0), who had won four straight and seven of eight, lead the Eastern Conference with 30 points. They’ve done it with Auston Matthews sidelined 14 games with a shoulder injury, and center John Tavares, the biggest of the free-agent signings, has been a big part of it.

Tavares scored in the first for the Leafs picking off a pass and striking on a breakaway for his 14th of the season.

Ferland’s goal, his 11th, pushed the Canes ahead 3-1, but Kasperi Kapanen pulled the Leafs within 3-2 with a snipe and it was a tight finish in the final eight minutes until the empty-netters after the Leafs pulled goalie Frederik Andersen for a sixth attacker.

“The team that won was the team that started on time and the team that worked the hardest,” Leafs coach Mike Babcock said.

The Canes’ start Wednesday wasn’t as startling as the one Sunday against the New Jersey Devils -- Williams and Ferland scoring in the first 30 seconds of the game. But it again was rapid-fire goals as van Riemsdyk and Williams scored in a 22-second span of the first.

The Canes had 29 shots in the opening period, a team record for one period since the franchise relocation and the most shots in a first period in the NHL since 1997-98. If that was eye-opening, the Canes then had two shots on goal in the second period, the first with 1:54 left by Justin Faulk.

Svechnikov had five of his eight shots in the first and it was the rookie’s line, with center Lucas Wallmark and winger Jordan Martinook, that produced the first goal. Van Riemsdyk pinched in to put a backhander into the net.

“He’s been coming on,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said of Svechnikov. “You can see the confidence starting to come out in him, haninging onto pucks, taking it to the net really hard.”

Williams’ goal came after a set play off a faceoff. Jordan Staal won the draw to defenseman Calvin de Haan, who found Williams open in front for a quick redirection -- Williams’ 100th career goal with the Hurricanes.

The Canes killed off a pair of penalties in the second period, then got Ferland’s power-play score at 7:45 of the third as Teuvo Teravainen set up Ferland in the right circle for the shot.

Canes center Victor Rask played his first game of the season after a kitchen accident in September resulted in hand surgery. Rask had 10:32 in ice time.

McElhinney was Andersen’s backup in Toronto, playing 32 games the past two seasons -- including 25 starts -- and putting up good numbers. But when the decision was made by the Leafs to have Garret Sparks back up Andersen this season, McElhinney was placed on waivers Oct. 1 and claimed by the Canes.

“There was some disappointment in being pushed out the door,” McElhinney said.

With Scott Darling injured as the season began, McElhinney won his first three starts. But Wednesday’s game was different. This was the Leafs.

This story was originally published November 21, 2018 at 9:45 PM.