Nikolaj Ehlers scored his first goal of the season on a third-period power play to lift the Carolina Hurricanes to a 3-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre on Saturday.
Following a scoreless opening period, Mark Scheifele opened the scoring for Winnipeg at 4:23 of the second period with an unassisted backhand goal. Carolina answered at 8:19 when Mark Jankowski scored a power-play goal on a wrist shot, assisted by Logan Stankoven and Bradly Nadeau. Alex Iafallo regained the lead for the Jets at 10:59, deflecting a feed from Adam Lowry.
Carolina tied the game 2-2 at 16:50 of the middle frame when Jesperi Kotkaniemi tipped in a pass from Shayne Gostisbehere and Eric Robinson for his first goal of the season. Ehlers then scored the deciding goal at 6:43 of the third period, firing a slap shot past the goaltender on the power play after another setup from Gostisbehere.
Special teams proved central to the outcome, with the Hurricanes converting both of their power-play chances while holding the Jets to 0-for-1 with the man advantage. Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 21 of 23 shots to earn the win for Carolina. At the other end, Winnipeg goaltender Clay Stevenson turned aside 34 of 37 shots in the loss as Carolina finished with a 37-23 advantage in shots on goal.
The victory extended the Hurricanes' winning streak to seven games and improved their record to 7-1-1 on the season. The Jets fell to 4-2-2 and are now winless in their last two games.
Both teams continue their schedules on the road. The Hurricanes visit the Calgary Flames on Sunday, while the Jets visit the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday.
