Win or lose Tuesday, the Carolina Hurricanes had something to celebrate.
It’s always better to win, and the Canes did that, topping the Dallas Stars 5-1. They also did it with Teuvo Teravainen back on the ice and in the lineup at American Airlines Center.
Teravainen, sidelined for 25 games, played for the first time since March 5. The versatile forward has dealt with COVID-19 issues and then concussion issues in a challenging season but was back Tuesday.
No one played any better than Canes captain Jordan Staal, who scored twice on the power play and set up Nino Niederreiter for a third-period score. With the big man in charge, the Canes (32-10-7) finished their season series 6-1-1 against the Stars and continued to lead the Central Division with 71 points.
Sebastian Aho had a goal and two assists, Max McCormick scored for a second straight game and Andrei Svechnikov had three assists for Carolina, 16-7-3 on the road this season.
Goalie Alex Nedeljkovic started his 20th game for the Canes and picked up his 13th win with 27 saves as Carolina picked up nine points on the six-game road trip that began against Tampa Bay.
The Canes clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs on Monday despite a 4-3 overtime loss to the Stars (21-16-12), who are trying to wedge into the fourth playoff spot in the Central. After chasing the game on Monday, finally tying the score in the third before losing in OT, the Canes had a much better start Tuesday.
Staal had power-play goal in the first period for a 1-0 lead., banging in a loose puck. Staal’s second-power play goal pushed the Canes in front 3-0 in the second.
The Stars’ Jason Robertson, outstanding as a rookie this season, scored his 15th of the season later in the second to make it a 3-1 game and give the Stars some life heading into the third. But McCormick and Niederreiter finished it off.
Tervainen was placed on Aho’s line with Svechnikov, and was used on the Canes’ second power-play unit. His return was needed and timely with recent injuries to forwards Jesper Fast, Jordan Martinook and Brock McGinn, and the Canes again played without defenseman Brady Skjei, who has a concussion.
McCormick had not scored a goal in the NHL since November 2018 until Monday, when the forward banged in a shot against Dallas. Now, he has done it again against the Stars -- two games, two goals.
McCormick, given a chance to play because of Canes injuries, scored off a pass from Morgan Geekie from behind the goal line at 5:18 of the third for a 4-1 lead. The Geekie-to-McCormick play was similar to their hookup on Monday as the Canes again picked up a score from their fourth line.
