Despite scoring four unanswered goals in the third period to overcome a 5-1 deficit, the Carolina Hurricanes suffered a gut-wrenching 6-5 loss in Dallas Tuesday night, as Stars winger Patrick Sharp leaked a shot through Canes backup goalie Eddie Lack on the power play with 19 seconds remaining.
The game got off to a rough start for the Hurricanes (10-14-4), as the first period was all Stars (21-5-2). It was another night to forget for Carolina starting netminder Cam Ward, as Dallas scored on its first two shots of the game and he surrendered four goals on eight shots in the period — enough to get him replaced by Lack to start the second.
Former Hurricane Patrick Eaves started Dallas’ first period onslaught, as he one timed a cross-ice feed from center Tyler Seguin past Ward about seven minutes in.
Shortly after, left winger Jamie Benn fired home his league-leading 19th goal of the season from the right circle to put the home team up by two.
Late-period goals from defenseman Johnny Oduya and Seguin gave the Stars a 4-0 lead at intermission.
The second period got off to a much better start for Carolina, as rookie defenseman Jaccob Slavin backhanded a puck past Stars starter Kari Lehtonen along the goal line for his first NHL goal. The Canes controlled play for much of the period and outshot Dallas 11-7, however with less than a minute to go Stars winger Valeri Nichushkin carved through the Canes defense and banked a shot off Lack for a 5-1 Dallas lead.
With the Hurricanes trailing 5-1 entering the third period, the game appeared to be over. The team, however, showed a lot of fight and mounted a furious rally.
It started when defenseman Justin Faulk wristed home his 10th power play goal of the season from the slot about two minutes into the period. The goal broke the team record for powerplay goals in a season by a defenseman, previously set by Anton Babchuk in 2008-09.
Carolina would draw within two on another first NHL goal a couple minutes later, this one by rookie winger Phil Di Giuseppe as he snapped a shot past Lehtonen from the right circle.
The Dallas lead was cut to one on another powerplay goal by Faulk, a howitzer of a shot from the point that beat Lehtonen.
The Canes kept their foot on the gas pedal after that, and winger Jeff Skinner beat Lehtonen on a sharp angle wrister with less than seven minutes to play to knot the game at five, prompting Dallas head coach Lindy Ruff to pull Lehtonen in favor of Finnish netminder Antti Niemi.
Unfortunately for the Hurricanes, center Victor Rask was called for tripping with 1:34 to play, and Sharp’s late power-play goal proved to be the game-winner.
Next up for the Hurricanes on this four game road trip is a date with the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center in California Friday night.
