RALEIGH, N.C. _ There aren't a lot of wild, free-wheeling, high-scoring games in the NHL anymore, it seems.
But there was one Tuesday at PNC Arena. Free wheeling. High scoring. Wild.
The Carolina Hurricanes won, 8-6 over the Vancouver Canucks, scoring six times in the third period for their seventh straight win on home ice.
After the first 40 minutes, the Canucks were the better team, building a three-goal lead. But the Canes played with a fury in the third.
Jeff Skinner had a pair of power-play goals for Carolina, and his second began a third-period blitz by Carolina. Ron Hainsey followed with an even-strength goal for the Canes. Then Victor Rask scored. Then Justin Faulk. Later, it was Staal and then Lee Stempniak with a late empty netter.
Just like that, what had been a 5-2 Canucks lead become a Canes lead. The first six minutes of the period was all about offensive intensity, of playmaking and attacking the net, and the Canes didn't let up.
Canucks goalie Ryan Miller was lifted in the third. The Canes' Cam Ward already was gone, relieved in the second.
As the final minutes ticked off in regulation, it was Michael Leighton in the Canes net and Jacob Markstrom for Vancouver, trying to hold on.
Markstrom was the first to blink, allowing Staal's score off a rebound at 12:38 of the period for a 7-5 lead. But Leighton was beaten by Brandon Sutter, the former Canes forward whose overtime goal beat Carolina in an October game in Vancouver.
Rask and Faulk each had a goal and two assists by game's end, and Derek Ryan three assists. Sebastian Aho scored the Canes' first goal on a rush into the Vancouver zone _ a score almost forgotten after the Canes' big push in the third.
Hainsey, involved in a first-period fight that appeared to energize the Canucks, whipped a shot through traffic to make it a 5-4 game. Rask's goal came off a Ryan pass, and Faulk struck from outside on a shot that glanced off the stick of Canucks defenseman Nikita Tryamkin.
Sven Baertschi, a healthy scratch in the Canucks' game Sunday against the Washington Capitals, had two goals and an assist.
Staal, recovered from a concussion, was back on the ice after missing seven games and Lindholm after missing five with a lower-body injury as the Canes began a
Aho's goal came on a well-executed rush that ended with Lee Stempniak passing to defenseman Brett Pesce, who found Aho crashing the net. Skinner then scored on a power play, knocking in a rebound for his 10th of the season.
But things soon changed. In the time it took Hainsey to send Canucks forward Loui Eriksson crashing into the boards, the Canucks appeared to become a more determined team.
Hainsey caught Eriksson high, leaving Erksson bloodied. Canucks defenseman Luca Sbisa immediately went after Hainsey, both dropping the gloves although few punches were thrown as they grappled.
In the second, the Canucks won all the battles in front of the Canes net. Canes goalie Cam Ward was lifted for Michael Leighton after the Canucks scored the first two goals for a 3-2 lead _ Alex Burrows and Markus Granlund getting the goals _ but Ben Hutton and Baertschi scored off against Leighton before the second period ended.
The Canes' defensive group, so solid most of the season, seemed mesmerized at times and all too often caught out of position. Noah Hanifin and Mat Tennyson struggled. Jaccob Slavin and Pesce struggled.
