Tokarski makes 14 saves, Hurricanes shut out Canucks

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Dustin Tokarski made 14 saves for the Carolina Hurricanes in a 2-0 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Lenovo Center on Friday.

The shutout was Tokarski's first in five starts with Carolina and the third of his career. The 35-year-old was signed by the Hurricanes on Dec. 2 after playing for Chicago of the American Hockey League.

Jordan Staal had a goal and an assist, and Andrei Svechnikov scored for the Hurricanes (26-15-2), who are 4-2-0 in their past six.

“It was a weird game. Not a lot going on," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. “It’s a lot of hockey. I think it’s a product of that too. You could see the tank was on ‘E.’ But I thought we dug in, and a couple plays were the difference in the game.”

It was the third straight multipoint game for Staal, who had a hat trick in a 6-3 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.

Thatcher Demko made 18 saves for the Canucks (18-13-10), who are 0-2-2 in their past four. Demko missed the previous three games with back spasms.

“I don’t think (Carolina) had a lot; they were tired,” Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet said. “We had a lot of o-zone time. (But if) you miss the net or you don’t shoot on 2-on-1s, it’s hard to win.”

Elias Pettersson returned to the Vancouver lineup after missing six games with an upper-body injury sustained against the San Jose Sharks on Dec. 23.

“I felt pretty good,” Pettersson said. “Maybe some puck battles – puck losses – I do want back. But overall it felt good.”

The Hurricanes took a 1-0 lead at 14:41 of the first period. Dmitry Orlov’s shot hit Eric Robinson at the netfront, and Staal scored on the loose puck in the slot.

“On both sides, it was kind of a sloppier game,” Staal said. “In those games, it’s always nice to be in the lead and grind it out that way.”

The Hurricanes outshot the Canucks 7-5 in the first period.

“I thought we had a good first period, whether they played the night before or not,” Vancouver defenseman Tyler Myers said. “We did some good things, but (there are) some things to clean up. To get some more pucks to the net, some more bodies to the net, would help our group.”

Svechnikov made it 2-0 at 1:37 of the second period when he spun away from a check from Carson Soucy in the corner before driving to the net and scoring top shelf.

Tokarski improved to 4-1-0 with a 2.00 goals-against average and a .907 save percentage.

“The guys are playing well right now. The goose egg is just the cherry on top,” Tokarski said. “That’s a good team on the other side, and the guys limited them tonight and made my job easy. So it was a lot of fun.”

NOTES: The combined 34 shots were the fewest in an NHL game this season. … Vancouver’s 14 shots were a season-low. … Pettersson was minus-1 in 20:27. … Staal has eight points (five goals, three assists) in a four-game point streak. … The Hurricanes are 0-for-17 on the power play in the past six games.