Staal has goal, assist in Hurricanes win against Wild

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Jordan Staal had a goal and an assist for the Carolina Hurricanes in a 3-2 win against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Tuesday.

“Any time you go down and you’re able to battle back, it’s good,” Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin said. “A confidence boost to know that you can do it, that you can come from behind and squeak out two points. It’s good for the team, good for our confidence, but we can be better, too.”

Stefan Noesen scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, and Andrei Svechnikov also scored for the Hurricanes (35-18-6), who had lost two in a row. Pyotr Kochetkov made 28 saves.

Noesen gave Carolina a 3-2 lead at 11:02 of the third period when Jack Drury’s shot from in front was saved by Minnesota goalie Filip Gustavsson, but deflected in off his visor.

“We needed to get some of those [flukey goals], we haven’t had any in forever,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “That was nice to see. Eventually they kind of even out, supposedly, but I think we’re still due a few more of those. But we’ll take it.”

Connor Dewar and Jonas Brodin scored, and Ryan Hartman had two assists for the Wild (28-25-6), who had won two straight and three of their past four. Gustavsson made 25 saves.

“I thought it was a hard-fought battle,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “I really liked our game. I thought, particularly in the second period, I thought we controlled the play and didn't give much up. But it’s the little details of things. It’s the end of a long shift. We get to that area of the ice. Those are must-make plays that [have] got to go in. And then we came out in the third, I thought we still played well enough to win, and obviously they get a bounce [right after a] power play.”

Dewar gave the Wild a 1-0 lead at 10:10 of the first period, spinning and scoring on a wrist shot from the slot.

Staal tied it 1-1 at 15:26 with a backhand off a rebound.

Brodin put Minnesota back ahead 2-1 at 19:39 with a shot through traffic.

“Today, I think it was just a lucky bounce,” Brodin said. “It’s a good thing [Hartman] was in the front of the net there. I don’t think [Kochetkov] saw a lot there. I didn’t have time to make a good shot, so I just tried to throw it there as quick as I could. Luckily, it went in. So, today it was just lucky.

“But I’ve been trying to shoot more. That’s where things happen and goals get scored.”

Svechnikov tied it 2-2 at 19:35 of the second period when his wrist shot down low slipped between Gustavsson’s pads.

“That’s what we got to do every game, just stay focused,” Svechnikov said.

NOTES: Hurricanes defenseman Jalen Chatfield was minus-1 with two shots, two hits and one blocked shot in 15:32 of ice time in his first game back after missing the previous four with an upper-body injury. … Gustavsson played in his 100th career game. … Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov had his eight-game point streak end (seven goals, 11 assists).