National Hockey League
Carolina 6, Arizona 5
When: 7:00 PM ET, Thursday, March 22, 2018
Where: PNC Arena, Raleigh, North Carolina
Referees: Ghislain Hebert, Dan O'Rourke
Linesmen: Derek Nansen, Libor Suchanek
Attendance: 10535
Jeff Skinner's second goal of the game with 1:58 remaining broke a 5-5 tie and gave the Carolina Hurricanes a 6-5 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night at PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C.

Skinner and Valentin Zykov, playing just his second game of the season, each had two goals and Phillip Di Giuseppe finished with a goal and two assists for the Hurricanes (32-31-11, 75 points). Teuvo Teravainen also scored for Carolina, which also got three assists from Jaccob Slavin plus two assists from both Elias Lindholm and Sebastian Aho.

Cam Ward picked up the win in net with 28 saves but gave up arguably the strangest goal of the season when the puck got stuck in his right skate while he was trying to clear it from behind his net. Ward, who lost track of the puck on the play, then circled back into goal area and his skate crossed the goal line for an Arizona goal which was credited to Alex Goligoski, who had dumped the puck behind the net.

Goligoski finished with two goals and Clayton Keller had a goal and an assist for Arizona, which had a two-game win streak snapped. Josh Archibald and Nick Cousins also scored goals and Darcy Kuemper had 24 saves for the Coyotes (25-38-11, 61), playing the second game of a 10-day, six-game road trip that covers 5,862 miles.

Carolina, behind Skinner's goal off a pass across the crease by Lindholm, and Zykov's first of his career on a wrist shot from the slot past Kuemper's glove, took a 2-0 lead in the first five minutes. But the Coyotes came back to tie it, 2-2, after one period on Goligoski's first goal and one by Keller off a crossing pass from Derek Stepan.

Goligoski's second goal of the game, this one on a rebound of a Keller shot, gave Arizona a 5-4 lead after two periods but Zykov, recalled from Charlotte of the AHL on Monday, tied it midway through the third period. Skinner than slammed home the game-winner during a scramble in front of the net, his 22nd of the season.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Arizona   Carolina
Alex Goligoski 2 Points Jeff Skinner 3
Alex Goligoski 2 Goals Jeff Skinner 2
Derek Stepan 2 Assists Jaccob Slavin 3
Alex Goligoski 1 Power Play Goals N/A
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Darcy Kuemper .800 Save Percentage Cam Ward .848
Darcy Kuemper 24 Saves Cam Ward 28
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Arizona 33 5 1-3 1-1 4 37
Carolina 30 6 0-1 2-3 8 34
Upcoming Games
  • Carolina will play their next game on the road against Ottawa. The Hurricanes have a W/L % of .438 after a win and .429 after a loss.
  • Arizona will play their next game on the road against Florida. The Coyotes have a W/L % of .346 after a win and .333 after a loss.