Recap and Ranker: Zykov, Skinner Lead Hurricanes Past Coyotes, 6-5

It was yet another bizarre hockey contest for the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night when the lowly but recently surging Arizona Coyotes came to Raleigh.

The Hurricanes got off to a hot start almost immediately when Jeff Skinner snapped a 14-game scoreless streak with his 21st goal of the season less than a minute into the game.

Shortly thereafter, recent call-up Valentin Zykov tallied his first goal of the season off a brilliant zone entry and feed from Sebastian Aho. The assist was Aho’s 60th point on the season.

But then, one of the most bizarre events of the season transpired when a puck went in behind the Carolina net. As goaltender Cam Ward went to play it, the puck lodged itself in Ward’s skate. Unaware of the puck’s location, Ward returned to the net and positioned himself to make a save on a potential incoming shot. In doing so, he inadvertently cut the Carolina lead in half by having his skate carry the puck across the goal line.

The goal was credited to Alex Goligoski. A goal from Clayton Keller would tie the game at two at the end of the period.

Phil di Giuseppe broke that tie in the second to give the Canes another lead at 3-2, but goals from Josh Archibald and Nick Cousins vaunted Arizona to a 4-3 advantage. Teuvo Teravainen’s 23rd goal of the year tied the game at four, but once again Arizona struck in the dying moments of a period in the person of Goligoski to grab a 5-4 lead.

Unlike in other recent games, the Hurricanes came alive in the third period this time around. Zykov got his second goal of the game to level the score on a brilliant net-front play.

Just when it looked like the game was going to overtime, Skinner got his second of the night on a second chance shot that beat goalie Darcy Kuemper, who along with Ward had a rather rough night. di Giuseppe got his second assist and third point on Skinner’s game-winner.

The 6-5 win was Carolina’s 32nd on the season in 74 games, and kept their increasingly marginal playoff hopes slightly alive.

Rank the Performances

Here’s your chance to weigh in on how you think the team performed tonight. Upvote the players you think played well and downvote the ones who didn’t.

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