RALEIGH, N.C. _ The Carolina Hurricanes went into a four-game homestead with one thought in mind: four wins and eight points.
The Canes did just that, finishing it off Saturday with a 7-4 victory over the New York Islanders before a crowd of 16,640 at PNC Arena.
Brock McGinn, coming off a two-goal game against the Buffalo Sabres, had a goal and three assists for the Hurricanes, and Elias Lindholm, Jordan Staal and Lee Stempniak each had a goal and two assists.
Justin Faulk, Brett Pesce and Teuvo Teravainen also scored for Carolina (21-15-7), which pulled one point behind the Philadelphia Flyers in the chase for the final playoff spot in the NHL's Eastern Conference. The Canes are 14-1-1 in their past 16 home games, turning PNC Arena into a place to be feared.
Cam Ward, making his 19th consecutive start, had 28 saves in the win.
Stempniak gave the Canes a 5-4 lead at 5:42 of the third period. After Teravainen won a faceoff in the offensive zone, Stempniak blistered a shot past goalie Thomas Greiss.
Later in the period, Teravainen redirected a shot by Faulk for a 6-4 lead, and Staal scored to make it 7-4 to end the night for Greiss.
The Canes are facing a tough stretch of four games that will include two road games against the Columbus Blue Jackets, another against Washington with a home game against the Pittsburgh Penguins wedged in. That made the homestead even more important.
For the fourth time, the Canes allowed the first goal of the game. For the fourth time, almost as if scripted, they surged from behind.
John Tavares got the Islanders on the board with a tip in front in the first five minutes of the game with the first of his two goals, and Anders Lee scored late in the period on a shot from the slot.
But the Canes, who had 45 shots in the game, cranked up their transition play in the final 10 minutes of the first _ despite Lee's goal _ and carried it into the second.
After a Jason Chimera score pushed the Isles' lead to 3-1 in the second, the Canes took dead aim on Greiss. Faulk scored on a shot from the left dot, then Lindholm on a perfectly-placed saucer pass from McGinn to tie the score 3-3.
Ward stepped up to make some timely saves, stopping a Thomas Hickey shot from the slot and then twice denying Dennis Seidenberg, the former Canes defenseman.
Pesce then joined the rush for Carolina, and McGinn again put the pass in the right spot, allowing Pesce to tip the puck past Greiss for his second of the season and a 4-3 lead.
Tavares, not to be outdone, scored again. The Isles captain, following up a hat trick in the 5-2 win Friday over the Florida Panthers, now has 16 this season.
McGinn had scored the Canes' goal in the first, crashing the net on a rush into the zone. After a pair of goals Friday against Buffalo, the winger has six points in the past three games.
The third period included a sight not often seen these says _ the return of The Wave. The crowd that came out on Star Wars Night clearly was enjoying itself as the two teams kept the pace up despite playing the second game of a back-to-back.
