Hurricanes keep pace with win, knock Wild from spot

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Carolina Hurricanes maintained their lead for the first Eastern Conference wild card with a 5-1 win against the Minnesota Wild at PNC Arena on Saturday.

Teuvo Teravainen had a goal and two assists for the Hurricanes (41-26-7), who remained two points ahead of the Montreal Canadiens with a game in hand and trail the Pittsburgh Penguins by four for third place in the Metropolitan Division.
"Pretty impressive," Hurricanes coach Brind'Amour said of Teravainen. "He's capable of those high-end offensive plays. Tonight you saw them."
WATCH: [All Wild vs. Hurricanes highlighs]
Eric Staal scored for the Wild (35-32-9), who trail the Colorado Avalanche by one point for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Devyn Dubnyk made 29 saves after making 21 in a 2-1 win at the Washington Capitals on Friday.
"In the third, we couldn't even complete a pass, it looked like," Minnesota defenseman Jared Spurgeon said. "They were coming at us hard, but at the same time, you've got to make plays and get out of our zone."
Petr Mrazek made 24 saves for Carolina and is 8-1-0 in his past nine starts. The Hurricanes were coming off a 6-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday when they surrendered four third-period goals.
"Everybody showed tonight, and it's a good comeback," Teravainen said. "We have to make sure we're ready every night. We know we can beat any team we play against."
Justin Faulk's shot from inside the blue line hit Jordan Staal's skate to give Carolina a 1-0 lead at 3:06 of the second period. Brett Pesce made it 2-0 at 5:32 after he took a pass from Justin Williams.

"We learned from (Thursday) night and we came out confident," Pesce said. "We didn't stop, we kept on the gas."
The Wild made it 2-1 at 8:57 with the Hurricanes killing a high-sticking double minor on Micheal Ferland. Kevin Fiala passed to Eric Staal, whose tight-angle one-timer from below the right face-off circle went off Mrazek's right pad.
Teravainen made a short backhand pass to Andrei Svechnikov for a shot between the circles at 3:27 of the third period to give Carolina a 3-1 lead. Lucas Wallmark pinched in to the left hash marks to score on Ferland's pass from the right corner for a 4-1 lead at 9:09.

"I think once they got to three (goals), you know the guys don't have a lot left in the tanks," Minnesota coach Bruce Boudreau said. "Then we have the giveaway to four (goals), and that was it."
Teravainen made it 5-1 at 11:12 when he drew Dubnyk out of the net after a turnover and slipped the puck into the net on the backhand. It was his first goal in 11 games.
"It was a good feeling to see the puck go in," Teravainen said. "It's more fun to play when you score some goals and you have the lead."

They said it

"Just not enough sustained offensive-zone time. They were on us quick, and we also made mistakes that you can't make. I thought Teravainen made some pretty good plays on a couple of their goals and we also handed them one. That was the difference." -- Wild forward Eric Staal
"I'm not sure how much I've enjoyed it. I should enjoy it more. I try to make myself stop and enjoy it, but it's pretty stressful for sure. But I enjoy the group. That's the thing I've said since Day One. I actually enjoy coming to the rink and being around these guys. If you're in our locker room, you know why." -- Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour on pursuing the playoffs in his first year as an NHL coach

Need to know

Wild forward Zach Parise, who took a high stick from Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson on Friday, was scratched. Parise had a four-game point streak. Boudreau said Parise has a lower-body injury. ... Fiala had an assist to set an NHL career high of 26. He had 22 in 64 games with the Nashville Predators before being traded Feb. 25. ... Spurgeon had an assist to match his NHL career-high of 28, established in each of the past two seasons. ... The Hurricanes went 19-8-3 against the Western Conference this season. ... Williams' assist gave him 300 points with the Hurricanes (421 games in two stints).

What's next

Wild: Host the Nashville Predators on Monday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV)
Hurricanes: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SN, FS-CR, RDS, NHL.TV)