In a vital response to their loss on Sunday, the Carolina Hurricanes came up with two important points in a 4-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs Tuesday night on the road.
The Canes took another step towards their first playoff berth in nine years as their magic number shrank to three thanks to a stellar performance by Petr Mrazek in his 100th career win, and goals by Justin Williams, Dougie Hamilton, and Jordan Staal.
The Maple Leafs thought that they had struck first late in the opening period, but a quick challenge from Carolina overturned the call as it was determined that Leafs forward William Nylander was offsides.
The Hurricanes began buzzing after the overturned call and they converted that pressure into the actual first goal of the night.
Starting with an offensive-zone faceoff, the Leafs had won the faceoff, pushing the puck back into the corner, but Williams beat former Hurricane Ron Hainsey to the puck and tossed it towards the net where it found its way between Leafs goaltender Garret Sparks’ skate and the post, giving Carolina the 1-0 lead.
The Hurricanes held Toronto to only two shots on net in the first period, killing off one and a half penalties in a dominant starting performance. After the bad start in Pittsburgh, Carolina really stepped up its effort, coming out jumping before the gun.
The Canes started the second period down a man, and after successfully killing the penalty, the Hurricanes used that momentum to establish heavy pressure on Toronto leading to a power play for Carolina.
Hamilton swiftly capitalized on the man advantage, picking up his own rebound and banking it in off of the back of Sparks’ leg. Hamilton’s goal was the second goal the Hurricanes scored from behind the goal line.
Toronto cut the lead to one on an ensuing power play as new guy John Tavares outmuscled Jaccob Slavin and buried the rebound past Petr Mrazek.
Both teams alternated offensive opportunities, but Toronto came up big with a flood of offensive pressure, but the Hurricanes held strong as the second period closed with Carolina up 2-1.
The start of the third period was all Toronto as the Leafs had the Canes pushed back onto their heels. However, a strong forechecking shift by Carolina’s top line led to a huge goal. Staal came flying from the bench and received a pass from Nino Niederreiter, settled it, and wristed a laser past Sparks to restore the Hurricanes’ two-goal lead.
Hamilton got his second of the night as he iced the game with an empty-net goal in the final minute as Carolina easily handled the Leafs extra man push to secure the victory.
With the win, the Canes moves back into the first wild-card spot, leapfrogging Columbus, who fell to Boston 6-2, by one point.
Also around the league, the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Tampa Bay Lighting in a desperate push to preserve their season and moved into a tie with Columbus for the final spot. The Penguins also now sit only two points ahead of Carolina for third in the Metropolitan as they fell to Red Wings, 4-1.
The Hurricanes will host the New Jersey Devils in their final home game of the season Thursday at 7 p.m.
