Alex Zachman
Assistant captain Justin Faulk checks Buffalo center Jacob Josefson into the boards in the second period Saturday, Dec. 23 at PNC Arena for a 4-2 Hurricanes win. Fualk recorded two goals, seven shots on goal and two hits.
Thanks to a blazing fast start and a natural hat trick from from defenseman Justin Faulk, the Carolina Hurricanes throttled the Los Angeles Kings 7-3 Tuesday night in PNC Arena for their third straight win.
The Canes (27-21-9) scored the first five goals of the game, three on the power play, to open up an insurmountable lead over the Kings (30-21-5). With the win, Carolina finished its three-week, eight-game homestand 5-2-1 and in the Eastern Conference’s second wild card spot, just one point back of the New Jersey Devils.
“[Faulk] was shooting it and he was feeling it,” head coach Bill Peters said. “He’s got a heavy shot and he’s getting himself open and setting his feet and really shooting. But again, the power play unit has been real dangerous for a long time and they were good here again tonight.”
Faulk’s hat trick, the first of his career, was a natural hat trick; when a player scores three consecutive goals with no other player on either team scoring in between. It was just the 10th natural hat trick by a defenseman in NHL history, and the first since Dustin Byfuglien accomplished the feat in 2007.
“It’s pretty cool,” Faulk said. “To be honest, I didn’t know that stat and I didn’t really think of it or pay attention to it. That’s not something I’ve ever thought of, getting a natural hat trick … knowing that there’s only 10. I like when [defensemen] score so hopefully it happens more.”
Cam Ward was the winning goalie for the Hurricanes, stopping 27 of 30 Los Angeles shots. For the Kings, Jonathan Quick started the game in net, but was pulled for Darcy Kuemper after allowing his fourth goal early in the second period.
The Hurricanes opened up the scoring in the first, as defenseman Jaccob Slavin backhanded a shot from in front that beat Quick over his glove and into the roof of the net, Slavin’s fifth of the season. The goal came on a four-on-four, three seconds before the Kings were set to begin a power play.
Carolina continued to keep the pressure on Quick and the Kings, as Faulk started his hat trick just over two minutes after Slavin’s opener with a heavy shot through traffic from the point. He made it 3-0 on a power-play goal later in the period, setup fully by forward Sebastian Aho. Aho drew the penalty with a burst of speed, and then delivered a smart pass to assist Faulk’s wrister from between the circles.
Faulk made the Kings pay for a penalty again, completing his hat trick and chasing Quick from the game with a hard wrister to open up the second period, his seventh goal of the season. Faulk said that it was his first hat trick since PeeWee hockey.
“It’s just nice to have a couple go in and hopefully there will be more,” Faulk said. “I was still going to keep shooting and still try to get my chances and obviously hope that they go in, and tonight was one of those nights.
Forward Jeff Skinner made it 5-0 later in the second period with a power-play goal, scoring a hard wrister on Kuemper from the circle to make the Canes 3 for 4 with a man advantage on the night.
Los Angeles didn’t die though, as the Kings pulled two goals back to head into the second intermission trailing 5-2. Forward Anze Kopitar slotted one past Ward from the point on a power play, and forward Tyler Toffoli pushed a loose puck in from beside the net to cut the deficit with 20 minutes to play.
Kings forward Torrey Mitchell cut the Hurricanes lead even further just over six minutes into the third period. Mitchell tipped in a shot from forward Kyle Clifford to beat Ward, and gave the Kings some hope suddenly down only two goals with over 13 minutes to play.
Skinner halted the Kings’ run with 5:45 to play in the game, unleashing a beautiful backhand to push the Canes’ lead back to three goals at 6-3 and seal the game. Aho added another Canes goal late, going five-hole on Kuemper with a backhand to make it 7-3.
“They were coming for it, and they’ve got some skilled guys,” Skinner said. “I think once we scored that goal there it kind of turned around a little bit for us and then [Aho] with a nice goal at the end.”
The Hurricanes will now head out on the road for the first time in three weeks to take on the Devils Thursday night, before returning home to host the New York Islanders Friday. Both games will be important, with the Canes one point behind New Jersey and three points ahead of the Islanders in the tightly contested playoff battle.