ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Stefan Noesen scored a goal with his face midway through the third period and the Carolina Hurricanes rallied to beat the Minnesota Wild 3-2 on Tuesday night.
Jordan Staal had a goal and assist and Andrei Svechnikov also scored for the Hurricanes, which won for the first time in three games and improved to 10-1-2 in their last 13 road games.
Just as a power play was expiring, Teuvo Teravainen passed down low to Jack Drury. His shot went off the blocker of Filip Gustavsson and deflected off Noesen’s face near the left post as he was tied up by Dakota Mermis.
Connor Dewar and Jonas Brodin scored for Minnesota, which lost in regulation for just the second time in 10 games since the All-Star break. Ryan Hartman assisted on both goals and Gustavsson stopped 25 shots.
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Hurricanes goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov made 28 saves and has allowed just 13 goals in eight games played this month.
Losing for just the third time in 21 games when leading after the first period, Minnesota had two top chances on an early third-period power play, but Kirill Kaprizov whistled a shot off the post and Kochetkov stuffed Marco Rossi at the edge of the crease.
Held without a shot on goal for nearly eight minutes, the Wild struck first halfway through the first period when Dewar outmuscled Brett Pesce in the slot, turned and put a puck past Kochetkov for his first goal in 10 games.
Carolina controlled much of the first period, but only scored once. A slapshot from Jaccob Slavin hit Jordan Martinook and Staal lifted in the loose puck at 15:26.
With the assist, Slavin tied Justin Faulk for the most points by a defenseman (258) in Whalers/Hurricanes franchise history.
Minnesota added a goal with 20.3 seconds left in the period when a long wrist shot from Brodin found its way through traffic for a 2-1 lead.
The roles were reversed the final moments of the second period when Svechnikov converted a feed from Seth Jarvis with 24.3 seconds left to make it 2-2. His shot went off the inside right pad of a sprawling Gustavsson and across the line.
UP NEXT
Hurricanes: At Columbus on Thursday.
Wild: At Nashville on Thursday.
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