Staal’s hat trick lifts Hurricanes past streaking Maple Leafs 

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Jordan Staal scored three goals for the Carolina Hurricanes in a 6-3 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Lenovo Center on Thursday.

It was the fourth hat trick of the Hurricanes captain’s 19-year NHL career.

“Obviously, getting rewarded with cookies, it’s always a good thing,” Staal said. “My game hasn’t changed; it’s being hard to play against and finding ways to win games in a more simple fashion. But when I get rewarded, it always feels good.”

Jordan Martinook had three assists, and Pyotr Kochetkov made 30 saves for the Hurricanes (25-15-2), who are 4-2-1 in their past seven games.

“(Staal) takes such pride in playing against the top guys too, knowing we’re going to get (the Matthews line),” Martinook said. “For him to go out and put up three, that’s awesome. Obviously we’re not relied on for that every night, but when we can do it, it feels good.”

Nicholas Robertson, William Nylander and Auston Matthews scored for the Maple Leafs (27-14-2), who had won five straight games. Joseph Woll made 28 saves.

“We had breakdowns in our zone,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “I thought we left the slot open too much tonight. I thought we spent too much time in our zone in general. It kind of got away from us.”

Robertson scored off a centering pass from Max Domi at 1:59 of the first period to give the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead.

Nylander made it 2-0 at 7:29 when he blocked a shot by Carolina defenseman Jalen Chatfield at the right point before skating in alone to score past Kochetkov’s blocker.

“It was beer-league hockey, beer-league plays to be honest with you,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “That was hard to watch. But you turn the page. They key was we got the next one.”

The Hurricanes scored two goals in 17 seconds to tie the game. Eric Robinson cut it to 2-1 at 13:58 when he finished the rebound of Ty Smith’s shot, then Staal took Andrei Svechnikov’s backhand pass from below the goal line and scored net-front to tie it 2-2 at 14:15.

Staal scored short-handed off a return pass from Martinook on a 2-on-1 rush to give the Hurricanes a 3-2 lead 35 seconds into the second period.

“We’ve got to be harder there in the neutral zone on that play,” Berube said. “(Martinook) is on his backhand. We’ve just got to take away the pass.”

Matthews tied the game at 3-3 on the power play at 1:11 when he dove to reach a rebound in front and scored on the backhand. Toronto’s captain has three goals and five assists in four games after he missed six with a lower-body injury.

“I thought we had good sequences of the game,” Matthews said. “But (there were) little breakdowns, poor execution that they obviously capitalized on. We did a good job of getting it back, but you don’t want to be in that position in the first place.”

Jackson Blake drove through the right circle and slipped a low wrist shot past Woll to give Carolina a 4-3 lead. Juha Jaaska assisted Blake for his first NHL point in his fourth game. The 26-year-old forward had played his entire professional career in Finland before signing with the Hurricanes this season.

“When I saw my name on the scoreboard, it was the same kind of emotion you have in the first game, like, is this real?” Jaaska said. “Like when you’re a child, you wouldn’t believe you’re going to make it (to the NHL). It’s pretty nice."

Staal redirected Brent Burns' shot from the right point between Woll’s pads to complete his hat trick and push the lead to 5-3 at 20 seconds of the third period. The play started with Martinook collecting the puck in the corner off the forecheck and passing to Burns.

“Marty was great,” Staal said. “He’s been so fun to play with. He makes it so difficult on the forecheck, and then I’m just kind of reading off of him. I can’t say enough about playing with him. It’s been a lot of fun.”

Kochetkov preserved the lead in the third period with several big saves, including a right-pad save on John Tavares at the left post and a lunge across the crease to stop Nylander off the rush.

“He was phenomenal, really. There was a ton of good saves,” Brind’Amour said. “It’s the most important position, and it needs to keep you in the game. That’s what he did for us.”

Seth Jarvis scored an empty-net goal with 3:37 remaining for the 6-3 final.

NOTES: Matthews and Mitch Marner were each minus-6. … Matthews has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in an eight-game point streak … Burns played his 885th consecutive game to pass Steve Larmer for the sixth-longest game streak in NHL history. … Staal has six points (four goals, two assists) in a three-game point streak.