Chatfield's late goal lifts Hurricanes past Sharks

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Jalen Chatfield scored late in the third period to lift the Carolina Hurricanes to a 3-2 win against the San Jose Sharks at Lenovo Center on Tuesday.

Chatfield settled a clearing attempt and scored on a wrist shot from above the right face-off circle with 2:39 left for the 3-2 lead.

“I’ve never been scoring low,” Chatfield said. “But lately I’ve been practicing (shooting) a little bit lower. It just so happened subconsciously that I shot it low and it worked out.”

Shayne Gostisbehere and Brent Burns scored for the Hurricanes (18-9-1), who have won two out of three. Pyotr Kochetkov made 21 saves.

“We found a way,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “It was not pretty, and then I thought our third period was our best period. Sometimes when your back’s against the wall, that ends up happening. You’ve got to give [San Jose] a lot of credit.”

Luke Kunin scored twice, and Vitek Vanecek made 25 saves for the Sharks (10-16-5), who have scored four goals during a three-game losing streak.

"I thought we played a pretty good hockey game," San Jose coach Ryan Warsofsky said. "There were a couple plays I wish we had managed a little bit better and got a little more on the attack. There's plays both ways that usually determine the game, and that’s what happened tonight.”

Gostisbehere put the Hurricanes up 1-0 at 4:26 of the first period when he took a cross-ice pass from William Carrier and scored on a short-side wrist shot in the left face-off circle.

San Jose tied it 1-1 at 18:51. Gostisbehere blocked Kunin’s shot in the slot, but Kunin put the rebound through the Carolina defenseman’s legs and beat Kochetkov five-hole.

“He gets to the inside of the ice,” Warsofsky said. “He’s the heart and soul of our team really. He gives you everything he’s got. To get rewarded with two goals is nice.”

Kunin’s second goal put the Sharks up 2-1 at 11:44 of the second period. William Eklund got in on the forecheck and fed a pass from behind the Carolina net to Kunin for a tap-in at the left post.

“I thought we had a good stream of offensive chances from the forecheck,” Kunin said. “That’s how we have success with our group, getting pucks behind them. There was some good, just not enough.”

Burns made it 2-2 at 4:11 of the third period. Sebastian Aho one-touched a cross-ice pass from Martin Necas back across to Burns, who tapped the puck into an open net.

“It was a great play by [Aho] and ‘Nechie’ on the rush,” Burns said. “I’m just glad I didn’t fall or miss it.”

The goal was the second of the season for Burns.

“That play in particular, I think, was the difference in the game,” Brind’Amour said. “He read the play right, and we made a couple nice plays to get a goal, but it was a huge part of the game.

“For us, I think, he was maybe our best player out there tonight. He was blocking shots, he was really competitive, did a lot of little things really well on the defending part of things.”

NOTES: San Jose forward Nikolai Kovalenko had three hits and one blocked shot in 9:23 after he was acquired with goalie Alexandar Georgiev in a trade with the Colorado Avalanche on Monday. Georgiev was active as the backup goalie. … Kunin’s two-goal game was his seventh in the NHL. … Hurricanes forward Jack Drury left the game after the first period with an upper-body injury. Brind’Amour said, “That’s not looking good. I’m assuming he’s going to be out for a while, but we don’t know for sure yet.” … Gostisbehere extended his point streak to four games (one goal, five assists).