Staal leads the way as Hurricanes finish road trip with 5-1 win over Dallas Stars
Win or lose Tuesday, the Carolina Hurricanes were going to have something to celebrate.
But it’s always better to win and the Canes did that, topping the Dallas Stars 5-1. They also did it with Teuvo Teravainen back on the ice and in the lineup at American Airlines Center, making the win even better.
Teravainen, sidelined for 25 games, played for the first time since March 5. The versatile forward has dealt with COVID-19 issues and then concussion symptoms in a challenging, frustrating season but was back Tuesday.
No one played any better than Canes captain Jordan Staal, who scored twice on the power play and set up Nino Niederreiter for a third-period score. With the big man in charge, the Canes (32-10-7) finished their season series 6-1-1 against the Stars and lead the Central Division -- and the NHL -- with 71 points.
Sebastian Aho had a goal and two assists, Max McCormick scored for a second straight game and Andrei Svechnikov had a career-high three assists for Carolina, 16-7-3 on the road this season.
“We’re trying to win every game.” Staal said after the game. “Whatever these games mean, at the end of the year it’s going to be important. We want to show up and play our style. and stay sharp and do the things we do and keep rolling to the playoffs.”
Goalie Alex Nedeljkovic started his 20th game for the Canes and picked up his 13th win with 27 saves as Carolina picked up nine points on the six-game road trip that began against Tampa Bay.
The Canes clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs on Monday despite a 4-3 overtime loss to the Stars (21-16-12), who are trying to wedge into the fourth playoff spot in the Central. After chasing the game on Monday, finally tying the score in the third before losing in OT, the Canes had a much better start Tuesday as Staal signaled his intent with an early hit on Stars captain Jamie Benn, the star of Monday’s game.
Staal had a power-play goal in the first period for a 1-0 lead., banging in a loose puck, and Aho also scored off a rebound 61 seconds later to make it 2-0. Staal’s second-power play goal pushed the Canes in front 3-0 early in the second.
“We had more jump today,” Staal said. “Last game we looked a little sluggish. Today we got to the game we wanted to play. Everyone was moving their feet and making the right plays, the strong plays.”
The Stars’ Jason Robertson, outstanding as a rookie this season, scored his 15th of the season in the second to make it a 3-1 game and give the Stars some life heading into the third. But McCormick and Niederreiter finished it off.
“We were half a step behind physically and half a step behind emotionally, and when you do that against that team, they are going to make you look as bad as we did tonight,” Stars coach Rick Bowness said after the game.
Teravainen was placed on Aho’s line with Svechnikov, was used on the Canes’ second power-play unit and had 16:32 of ice time. His return was needed and timely with recent injuries to forwards Jesper Fast, Jordan Martinook and Brock McGinn, and the Canes again played without defenseman Brady Skjei, who has a concussion.
“He’s been through a long year,” Staal said. “It was awesome to see him out there and he’s only going to get better.”
McCormick had not scored a goal in the NHL since November 2018 until Monday, when the forward banged in a shot against Dallas. Now, he has done it again against the Stars -- two games, two goals.
McCormick, given a chance to play because of Canes injuries, scored off a pass from Morgan Geekie from behind the goal line at 5:18 of the third for a 4-1 lead. The Geekie-to-McCormick play was similar to their hookup Monday as the Canes again picked up a score from their fourth line.
(Earlier updates)
Second period: Canes lead 3-1
Jordan Staal has scored his second power-play goal of the game and Jason Robertson has scored for the Stars after the Canes had taken a 3-0 lead.
Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov assisted on Staal’s goal at 1:13 of the period. Aho has a goal and two assists, and Svechnikov three assists in the game.
The Canes began the second on the power play after a delay-of-game call against Dallas late in the first. Staal went to front of the net and banged in the loose puck at 1:13 of the period.
Robertson scored his 15th of the season at 7:45 after a Canes turnover in the neutral zone.
Canes defenseman Jake Bean was denied a goal with 1:17 left in the period. Bean had an open look on the back side off a Morgan Geekie pass but goalie Anton Khudobin managed to get the shaft of his stick on the puck.
First period: Staal, Aho score
The Canes’ Jordan Staal scored on the first power play of the game and Sebastian Aho has followed with an even-strength goal a minute later for a 2-0 lead after the first period.
Staal scored his 15th of the season and his sixth power-play goal as Aho and Andrei Svechnikov had the assists at 7:08. Svechnikov got off a shot, the puck bouncing off Aho’s skate to Staal in front of the crease.
Aho’s goal at 8:09 was his 21st after the center came off the bench on a change, gathered in the long rebound of a Brett Pesce shot in the left circle and ripped the shot. Svechnikov earned his second assist of the game.
Forward Teuvo Teravainen put in his first shift since March 4 after missing the past 25 games recovering from concussion symptoms. Teravainen was on the ice for the Aho score, off a long rebound, and had six shifts and 5:39 TOI.
The Canes outshot the Stars 15-9 in the period and had 13 scoring chances to the Stars’ 7 (naturalstattrick.com).
This story was originally published April 27, 2021 at 8:08 PM.
