Recap: Hurricanes 3, Avalanche 2 - SO

The Carolina Hurricanes jumped out to a 2-0 lead but then struggled in the third period before prevailing, 3-2 in a shootout win over the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night at the PNC Arena.

Victor Rask dazzled the crowd with a smooth move for the first Carolina shootout goal and Elias Lindholm backhanded in another as Anton Khudobin stopped both Colorado shooters at the other end for the win.

Jordan Staal scored his first goal of the season to start things off in the first period and Patrick Dwyer scored his fourth in the second period to stake the Canes to a nice lead, but the Avs scored twice in the third to make a game of it.

It seemed like the Hurricanes could have scored more than they did as they totally dominated the opening period.  They had 20 shots on goal, the most in one period so far this season and also had nine shots blocked and missed the net seven times for a total of 36 shot attempts.

In the meantime, a tired Colorado team, which just lost the previous night in our nation's capital, had nine.

The home team had many close chances but finally beat rookie goalie, Calvin Pickard when Jordan Staal and Ryan Murphy teamed up.  Staal fed Murphy, who gave the puck right back to the center and Jordan buried it to complete a very pretty play.

The score stayed 1-0 until 6:03 in the second period when Dwyer wristed in a perfect shot to beat Pickard.

Late in the second period the Canes faded and the Avs came on strong.  Coach Bill Peters sensed things slipping away and called his timeout to fire his team up with 3 minutes left, but the Avs continued their resurgence in the third.

They scored just 25 seconds into the period and then again midway through but Khudobin made a few key saves to hold the fort the rest of the way.  The game then went to overtime where both teams were scoreless.

Peters said he went with the youngsters in the shootout for a "different look".  He knew both players had a lot of skill and should do well.

The Canes get a couple of days off and will next face the Vancouver Canucks at home on Friday night.

Game Notes:

• Khudobin made 28 saves on 30 shots and then two more in the shootout.  The goalie has won his last three shootouts for his team.  Pickard was also very good and had 44 saves on 46 Carolina shots.
• Everyone on the Carolina roster had at least one shot in this contest.  The team was led by Eric Staal, Jordan Staal, and Lindholm with five shots each.  Speaking of those three players, that line was especially effective again tonight.
• The Canes had 18 blocked shots and were led by John-Michael Liles with five.
• Justin Faulk once again had a team high 26:32 of ice time with Andrej Sekera right behind.  Brad Malone was low man with 9:04.
• Carolina had 46 shots on goal, 27 blocked, and missed the net 22 times for a total of 95 shot attempts.  The Avs had a total of 50.