The Carolina Hurricanes finished up their four game road trip with a decisive 3-1 win against the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday night at Jobing.com Arena. The win gave the Canes four points out of a possible eight on this trip as they went 1-1-2.
Justin Peters earned the win and once again allowed just one goal, this time while making 37 saves in the Carolina victory.
Jeff Skinner scored the game-winner and now has eight goals in his last seven games.
The Canes fell behind early again as Paul Bissonnette got a step on his defender and used a perfect pass by Connor Murphy to beat Peters at 6:14 into the first period. It was the first goal in 72 games for the tough guy, but it would be the only score for Phoenix on this night.
Nathan Gerbe tied things up in the second period on a beauty of a shot while on a rush with Jordan Staal. Eric Staal picked up the primary assist.
Skinner scored the go-ahead goal right off of a faceoff 3:00 into the third period. The red hot winger took the puck, lunged, and then flicked it into the net before Mike Smith could see it. The captain earned another assist on the play as he was credited with the face off win.
The Hurricanes had a couple of other prime chances, but were stymied by Smith.
Antoine Vermette came close to scoring on a shorthanded breakaway for the home team, but Peters made the tough save, then made another sterling save on Mike Ribeiro in the third period.
Eric Staal notched another empty-netter to salt away the game late and complete a three point night.
The Canes were outshot in two of the three periods and 38-33 for the game, but played a solid overall contest and probably had the better of the chances on this night.
They will now return back home and have a few nights off until their next game against the Washington Capitals on Friday night.
Game Notes:
- The powerplay was disappointing and went 0-4 on the night and Peters had to come up big to stop a shortie. The PK was strong and held the Coyotes to 0-3.
- On the team's 33 shots, Eric and Jordan led the way with five shots each.
- Andrej Sekera had a team best three blocked shots.
- The win moved Peters' record to 7-8-2 with a GAA of 2.16 and a save percentage of .929.
- Tuomo Ruutu had a team high five hits while Jay Harrison was next with four.
- Sekera was on the ice for 26:07. Justin Faulk was next with 22:55.
- Post game interviews are at Canes PR.com.