RALEIGH, N.C. _ Just when the Carolina Hurricanes believed things couldn't get any more bizarre this season ... it did.
The Hurricanes gave up one of the most unusual goals imaginable, but surged past the Arizona Coyotes, 6-5, on Thursday at PNC Arena as Jeff Skinner and rookie Valentin Zykov each had a pair of goals.
Skinner's second goal of the game, with 1:58 left in regulation, pushed the Canes ahead 6-5. Skinner, who has 22 goals, also earned an assist.
Zykov, playing on a line with Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen, had a pair of goals for the Canes. The Russian winger, recalled this week from the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL, drilled a shot from the slot and scored his second when he used his 6-foot-1, 224-pound frame to get to the front of the net and bang the puck past goalie Darcy Kuemper.
Teravainen had a goal and assist and Aho two assists for the Canes, who trailed 5-4 after two periods but tied the score on Zykov's second goal.
Phil Di Giuseppe each had a goal and assist for the Canes, Skinner ending a 13-game goal-less streak with his 21st goal 48 seconds into the game.
Defenseman Alex Goligoski scored twice for the Coyotes. Only once did he put the puck in the net.
The Canes, embarrassed 7-3 by the Edmonton Oilers in their last game, took a 2-0 first-period lead as Skinner and Zykov scored. Then things turned weird.
Canes goalie Cam Ward left the net to play the puck when Goliogski hard-rimmed it around the back boards. But Ward couldn't locate the puck. Neither could the referees.
Ward quickly returned to the net, regaining his position, jabbing his right skate behind him and just past the goal line. The problem for the Canes: the puck was lodged in Ward's right skate.
The referees had no choice but go to a review. The ruling: the puck crossed the goal line _ albeit in the goalie's skate _ before play was whistled dead at 8:27 of the first period. Arizona goal.
The Canes' bench was livid, especially assistant coach Rod Brind'Amour. Their argument was that the referee closest to the play should have blown the play dead immediately when he couldn't spot the puck.
Replays show the referee with his arms spread wide, as if as confused as everyone else.
The gift-goal changed the game's momentum. The Coyotes tied the score at 2 with 21.8 seconds left in the period on a goal by Clayton Keller, the 21st for the rookie forward. Di Giuseppe and Teravainen scored for the Canes in the second but Josh Archibald and Nick Cousins countered for Arizona.
Golokoski's second goal, on a power play with 10.3 seconds left in the second, pushed the Coyotes ahead 5-4.
Aho and Teravainen each extended their point streaks to seven games, a career high for both and the longest of the season for the Canes.
