Carolina 5 Edmonton 3
EDMONTON — Kirk Muller earned his first win as an NHL head coach as the Carolina Hurricanes snapped a seven-game winless skid with a 5-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday.
Jeff Skinner, Jamie McBain, Patrick Dwyer, Chad LaRose and Tuomo Ruutu scored for the Hurricanes (9-17-4), who won their first game in five tries under Muller. Tomas Kaberle added two assists.
Eric Belanger, Ben Eager and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins replied for the Oilers (13-12-3), who are in a tailspin with two losses in a row and five in their last six games.
Carolina appeared to score eight minutes into the first when LaRose stole the puck from Ryan Smyth behind the Edmonton net and made a wrap-around shot, but was determined by video review to have kicked the rebound into the goal.
Edmonton had a goal of its own reviewed three minutes later, but theirs would count. Magnus Paajarvi banked a shot off of Tim Brent onto the Carolina net and goalie Can Ward trapped it under his stick. However in the scrum that ensued Eric Belanger hit the stick with his skate and the puck skittered across the line to count as his first goal of the season, despite originally be credited as Paajarvi’s first.
Carolina finally buried one of its many first-period chances with 40 seconds remaining as a bad bounce off of the glass landed in front of the Oiler net, and Skinner beat Dubnyk through his pads for a power-play goal.
The Hurricanes took a 2-1 lead five minutes into the second as McBain beat a stickless Dubnyk up high with a shot with another Oiler penalty on the way.
Carolina went up by two goals with eight minutes to play in the second as Eric Staal fed it ahead to Dwyer and he undressed Dubnyk with a deke before sliding it through the five-hole.
Three minutes later it was 4-1 Carolina as LaRose took a two-on-one pass and slid yet another goal through Dubnyk’s legs on a short-handed opportunity.
Edmonton got one of those goals back nine seconds later as Eager showed some hustle to scoop up a loose puck and swing a shot behind Ward for his first of the year.
The Hurricanes kept on coming to start the third with another goal four minutes in. Jussi Jokinen found Ruutu in front, and he sent a shot through traffic for a 5-2 Carolina lead.
Skinner had a chance to get his second of the game after he was awarded a penalty shot seven minutes into the third period after being chopped by Theo Peckham while on a breakaway, but couldn’t beat Dubnyk on the attempt.
Edmonton got a goal back with just over six minutes to play as Sam Gagner through a puck in front from his knees and rookie Nugent-Hopkins found a sliver of light behind Ward. It was the rookie’s 13th goal and 30th point of the season.