Hurricanes rally in 3rd period, defeat Kraken for 4th straight win

RALEIGH, N.C. -- William Carrier was credited with the tiebreaking goal in the third period, and the Carolina Hurricanes rallied to defeat the Seattle Kraken 3-2 at Lenovo Center on Saturday.

The game-winner deflected off of Carrier in the crease after Jaccob Slavin drove to the net on a give-and-go with Jordan Staal and chipped the puck on goal, making it 3-2 at 13:50. Slavin got his 300th NHL point on the goal in his return from missing 10 games with an upper-body injury.

“I try to be smart about it,” Slavin said. “My job is to be a defenseman, but when the opportunity presents itself, I like to get up there. I just saw I’m the next open guy, and I figured I would keep going to the net, and Jordan gave it back to me. Obviously a big netfront presence by ‘Cares’ too.”

Logan Stankoven and Jordan Martinook scored, and Staal had two assists for the Hurricanes (28-14-3), who have won four in a row. Brandon Bussi made 10 saves.

"We knew coming in how this game was going to go, just based on how they’ve been playing,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “You weren’t going to get an odd-man rush because they were staying above it. We knew that was how we were going to have to score our goals.”

Matty Beniers and Berkly Catton scored for the Kraken (20-15-8), whose 10-game point streak ended (8-0-2). Joey Daccord made 31 saves.

“It was a hard-fought game,” Seattle coach Lane Lambert said. “They’re very good at squelching opportunities. I thought when we did have some chances, we failed on them, whether it be [that we] got them blocked or missed the net. There were enough for us. We thought our goalie played well.”

Stankoven gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 3:23 of the first period. K'Andre Miller intercepted a Vince Dunn clearing attempt inside the blue line and passed to Stankoven, who beat Daccord past the blocker from the left hash marks.

Stankoven has a goal in each of the past four games and 10 for the season. The forward had scored one goal in the previous 26 before the streak.

“We knew he was struggling with his confidence,” Martinook said. “Just to see him get his swagger back, he’s shooting the puck like we all know he can.”

Beniers tied it 1-1 on a breakaway at 14:13. He stick-handled around Slavin in the neutral zone and scored through the five-hole.

Catton put the Kraken ahead 2-1 at 5:56 of the third period. Ryan Winterton intercepted a clearing attempt by Bussi and quickly passed to Catton, who scored on a snap shot from between the circles.

“I thought the guys were battling,” Seattle forward Jaden Schwartz said. “It was right there, up one (goal) pretty late in the third. I thought we did a good job checking, staying within our system and trying to keep them to the outside as much as we can.”

Carolina tied it 2-2 at 10:37. Staal passed from behind the net to Martinook alone in front, where he scored inside the right post.

“I don’t see myself as a playmaker,” Staal said. “I see myself as a strong defensive [player], try to chip in offensively when I can, whether it’s dishing or shooting or going to the net hard and it going off my leg. I’m just trying to help win games. Tonight was a couple nice passes to help us win.”

Staal has three assists in the past two games.

“He’s a complete player. He’s not flashy, but look at the results,” Brind’Amour said. “He’s always around it. He creates a lot. He makes people around him better. That’s what all the elite players do.”

NOTES: Beniers has five points (three goals, two assists) in a four-game point streak. … Schwartz had one shot on goal and played 18:14 in his return after missing 19 games with a lower-body injury. … Slavin has 55 goals and 245 assists in 751 NHL games. … Miller has five points (two goals, three assists) in a three-game point streak.