Carolina Hurricanes head coach Bill Peters has spent the majority of the season preaching to his goal-starved team to keep putting pucks on net and they will eventually go in.

Sunday night, he was right as the Hurricanes (10-13-4) exploded offensively, scoring five goals, en route to a 5-4 win over the Arizona Coyotes (13-13-1).

“(If) you keep doing things long enough, you’re going to get rewarded,” Peters said. “That’s the hard part in sport and in life. You gotta believe that if you keep working and keep doing good things, you’re going to get rewarded in the end. And they did.”

Despite the Hurricanes coming out of the gates flat and at times looking shaky in their own end, they quickly answered each of the Coyotes two goals in the first period.

Arizona forward Tobias Rieder was left all alone by the Canes defense, in front of Carolina netminder Cam Ward, and scored a rebound goal less than a minute into the game.

The Canes responded a minute and a half later as forward Kris Versteeg scored from the slot, beating Coyotes goalie Anders Lindback five-hole to tie the game.

It was Versteeg’s first goal in more than a month and a much-needed one after being a healthy scratch in Carolina’s previous game, the night before.

“I have pride. I think we all do,” Versteeg said. “When you don’t play, it hurts that. So you want to come back and be a contributor and try to help out whatever way you can. Fortunately, tonight was one of those nights where you can help out.

The Coyotes scored with a few minutes remaining in the opening frame on a beautiful cross-ice pass from forward Brad Richardson to defenseman Nicklas Grossmann. Ward dove across his crease, attempting a diving save but couldn’t get there in time to stop Grossmann’s shot.

It looked as if the Hurricanes would head to the locker room trailing until forward Jay McClement scored his first goal of the season in the final two minutes of the first. McClement hustled down the ice, beating a Coyotes player to the puck, and eventually scored on his own rebound.

Carolina took its first lead of the game in the second period as forward Eric Staal scored from the slot off of an intelligent and accurate pass from forward Elias Lindholm who had the puck on the goal line.

Just like Versteeg, it was Eric Staal’s first goal since Nov. 1 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Arizona tied the game in the third on a soft goal given up by Ward. Coyotes defenseman Stefan Elliott threw a backhander on goal that deflected off Ward’s glove and into the net.

The Coyotes regained the lead with a rebound goal on the power play from forward Antoine Vermette. Canes defenseman Ron Hainsey had a chance to clear the puck from the defensive zone but instead Vermette took control of it before scoring.

Hainsey made up for it with four minutes remaining in the third period, scoring from the slot to tie the game at 4-4.

With only 17 second left, Canes defenseman Justin Faulk scored the game-winning goal on a hard wrister from just inside the blue line, giving Carolina a 5-4 victory.

“They blocked a shot and it just came right back to me,” Faulk said. “We had traffic in front. I really didn’t know how much time was left but I just wanted to get it to the net and hopefully create something.”

The Hurricanes now head on the road for four straight games away from the friendly confines of PNC Arena.