by SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — William Carrier and Eric Robinson scored 4 1/2 minutes apart late in the second period, and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the San Jose Sharks 5-1 Tuesday night.
Sean Walker Shayne Gostisbehere and Jackson Blake also scored for the Hurricanes, who won three in a row to open the season. Logan Stankoven had two assists and Brandon Bussi stopped 16 shots in his NHL debut.
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William Eklund scored for San Jose and Alex Nedeljkovic finished with 38 saves. San Jose had started the season with two overtime losses.
The Hurricanes had more than 40 shots on goal for the second straight game, holding the Sharks without a shot in the third period.
Sharks rookie center Michael Misa, the second overall pick in this year’s draft, made his NHL debut. The 18-year-old logged 15:06 of ice time and had no shots on goal.
Walker got the Hurricanes on the scoreboard 1:24 into the second period when he one-timed Sebastian Aho’s pass from traffic past Nedeljkovic.
Eklund equalized at 4:38 when he received a pass from Tyler Toffoli and sent a shot that went through the 27-year-old Bussi’s pads and into the goal.
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Carrier put the Hurricanes back up 2-1 with 5:46 left in the middle period. Alexander Nikishin went to the net, took a pass from Jordan Martinook and sent a backhander to Nedeljkovic, leaving the post and puck in the paint. Carrier came in and punched him in.
Robinson gave Carolina a two-goal lead with 1:21 left in the period when he took a lead pass from Mike Reilly, skated into Nedeljkovic and put a backhander past the goalie.
Gostisbehere pushed Carolina’s lead to 4-1 at 1:52 of the third and Blake made it a four-goal lead at 7:25.
The Hurricanes defeated the Sharks 14-8 in a scoreless first period. San Jose had three power plays, but was blown out each time by a Hurricanes team that had the best penalty kill in the league last season.
Next
Hurricanes: Thursday at Anaheim in the second of a six-game trip.
Sharks: Friday in Utah.
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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
