Recap: Ducks Wiped Out by Hurricanes in 6-3 Loss

The Ducks paid for showing up late to the party tonight as a second period comeback was not enough to quiet the Hurricanes in a 6-3 setback at PNC Arena.

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The loss dropped Anaheim to 14-26-1 on the season, seventh in the Pacific Division. The Ducks continue a five-game road trip Saturday at Tampa Bay.

Isac Lundestrom, Ryan Strome and Frank Vatrano scored for Anaheim. Adam Henrique, Brett Leason, Brock McGinn, Troy Terry and Jackson LaCombe added assists. John Gibson made 21 saves in the first two periods of action before leaving the game with an upper-body injury. Lukas Dostal stopped eight-of-nine shots in the third.

The loss also denied the Ducks a season sweep of the second-place Hurricanes and sunk the club's road record to 8-10-0.

Brady Skjei, Andrei Svechnikov, Jordan Martinook, Stefan Noesen, Jack Drury and Seth Jarvis scored for the Canes, who improved to 23-13-5 on the season and extended their point streak to seven games. Antti Raanta earned the win in net for Carolina in relief of the injured Pyotr Kochetkov.

Carolina went ahead first late in an opening period almost entirely controlled by the home side, scoring twice in a span of 15 seconds on a pair of backdoor passes.

The first came on a 3-on-2 rush, with Jarvis finding Skjei alone on left wing.

Svechnikov scored on the next shift, capitalizing on a 2-1 rush after a nice steup dish by linemate Sebastian Aho.

Aho has 17 points in his last eight games, tied for the league lead in points and assists during that span.

Carolina outshot Anaheim 16-1 in the first period.

Anaheim played a much better middle frame though, getting back within one twice and even momentarily tying the game, but the Hurricanes would reclaim control late in the period to restore the two-goal cushion after 40 minutes.

The third line of Leason, McGinn and Lundestrom started off what became a wild second period, with the centerman tapping home a pass from Leason through traffic at the far post.

Lundestrom collected his first point of the season on the goal. He's appeared in five games since returning from an offseason Achilles injury, posting a +2 rating thus far.

With the assist, Leason furthered his career-high marks in helpers (six) and points (12) this season.

McGinn's assist was his third career point, and first assist, against his original NHL team. The second-year Ducks winger, a 2012 second-round pick by the Canes, played his first 345 NHL games with Carolina.

The 2-1 score lasted all of 92 seconds, as Martinook answered back for Carolina with another goal off the rush, this one a move to the backhand after the setup saucer pass by Jarvis.

The goal made Martinook the eighth player in Carolina/Hartford franchise history to score in his 600th career NHL game.

Jarvis is one of five players selected in the 2020 NHL Draft to already eclipse 100 career NHL points. With three points tonight, he now has six points in six career matchups against the Ducks.

Again facing a two-goal deficit in a game against of the NHL's top teams, the Ducks went back to work and temporarily eliminated the deficit on back-to-back shifts. 

Strome made it 3-2 with an impressive display of hand-eye coordination, waiting just along for a high-arching puck to dip under the crossbar before he batted it home past Kochetkov.

Strome has scored in each of his last two games and is tied for fourth among team leaders in points this season.

With an assist, LaCombe has three points in his last two games.

Vatrano then tied it up on a perfectly executed faceoff play, using the screen of Jakob Silfverberg to quickly fire a snapshot past Kochetkov after Henrique won the draw.

The goal clinched Vatrano's third career 20-goal season. He leads Anaheim in goals (20) this year and is tied for 16th among league leaders. 

Recently named to his first NHL All-Star Game, Vatrano also became the third Duck in franchise history to score 20 goals in each of his first two seasons with the team, joining Ryan Kesler and Petr Sykora. 

With the assist, Henrique has points in three straight games.

Kochetkov left the game midway through the second period after a collision with Lundestrom, caused by the check of defenseman Dmitry Orlov. Kochetkov was helped off the ice and did not return.

Noesen and Drury would put Carolina back up two before the period ended, with a shorthanded and power-play goal, respectively. 

Gibson departed the game after the second period with an upper-body injury and also did not return.

Anaheim came inches from getting back within one on an early third-period power play, but Mason McTavish's one-timer from the right circle rang the near-side post and stayed out. That would be the Ducks' best look at creating a comeback, as Jarvis' insurance marker with 10 minutes to go all but sealed Carolina's 6-3 win.

The Ducks continue a five-game road trip Saturday at Tampa Bay.