Hurricanes snap Ducks’ 5-game win streak with 4-1 victory
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Clark Bishop scored his first NHL goal by crashing into the Anaheim net along with the puck. Two lengthy video reviews later, the rookie finally got to celebrate.
That ramshackle goal was a fairly appropriate symbol for a night of gritty work by the Carolina Hurricanes, who don't have enough time or healthy players to worry about style points.
Brett Pesce scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period, and the Hurricanes ended their three-game skid and the Ducks' five-game winning streak with a 4-1 victory over Anaheim on Friday.
Justin Williams also scored in the third period and Petr Mrazek made 18 saves in his first victory since Oct. 26 as the Canes won in Anaheim for just the second time in nine years.
Sebastian Aho added an empty-netter as Carolina salvaged one win from its three-game California trip despite the injury absences of top goal-scorer Micheal Ferland, veteran forward Jordan Staal and starting goalie Curtis McElhinney.
"We're not going to score a lot of pretty goals," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "We've pretty much established that. We've got to find some other ways to get them."
Bishop tied it for the Canes with his messy goal in the second period. The 22-year-old former fifth-round pick slid into John Gibson while the puck trickled underneath the goalie, but the goal survived two reviews that concluded the puck had crossed the line and refuted Anaheim's claim of goalie interference.
"It was definitely kind of a weird goal," Bishop said. "Not something that I ever pictured scoring my first NHL goal like that, but they all count, and luckily that one did."
Jakob Silfverberg scored his 100th career goal for the Ducks, who had won seven of eight and earned points in nine of 10 before an uncharacteristic third-period flop.
"We didn't play anywhere near to the blue collar-type of game that was required," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "Nothing we seemed to try to do had any positive effect. It was all frustration and a lack of ability to execute. ... It was one of those games where nothing we did was effective. Hopefully we learned from it, because we lacked any type of resemblance to the team we've been."
Anaheim didn't allow a goal after the second period during its winning streak. Carolina scored twice in 61 seconds in the third, starting when Pesce connected perfectly with an aggressive swing at a pass from Teuvo Teravainen for the defenseman's third goal.
Gibson stopped 32 shots for Anaheim, but took just his second regulation loss in nine appearances after mishandling a high shot that turned into Williams' fifth goal.
Mrazek made just his second appearance since Nov. 2 for the Hurricanes after McElhinney was scratched with a lower-body injury that apparently occurred during practice Thursday.
Saku Maenalanen made his NHL debut for Carolina after Staal was sidelined for the first time this season due to a concussion.
Silfverberg put the Ducks ahead in the first period with a short-handed goal when Jake Dotchin's shot deflected off his body. Silfverberg started the sequence that led to his milestone goal in his 445th game with a breakaway shot off the iron.
"It's tough on a night like this to look on the positive side, but it's an accomplishment," Silfverberg said. "We still felt we had another gear we had to put in if we wanted to come out with two points. Our last 40 (minutes were) definitely not the way we wanted to play. We were playing slow and sloppy with the puck. We weren't connecting on passes."
NOTES: Bishop scored in his 11th career game. ... Ducks F Rickard Rakell missed his first game of the season with an ankle injury. The Swede is off to a slow start with just five goals after scoring 34 last year. ... Maenalanen, a 24-year-old Finn, is a former Nashville draft pick who began his first North American season in the AHL this fall. ... Staal is out indefinitely after getting hurt in the third period at San Jose on Wednesday. ... Ferland missed his fourth straight game with a concussion. ... McElhinney will be re-evaluated when the Canes return to Raleigh. The former Ducks backup is 7-3-1.
UP NEXT
Hurricanes: Host Maple Leafs on Tuesday night.
Ducks: Host Devils on Sunday night.
