The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the San Jose Sharks 5-2 Tuesday night in what was their first win on American soil; their last win was against the Minnesota Wild in Helsinki, Finland.
Eric Staal of the Hurricanes played a crucial role in the victory as he scored a short-handed goal early in the game and managed to rally his team behind as they effectively disarmed the Sharks' defense.
Goalie Cam Wald also played an important role by making 41 saves. The Hurricanes smoothly advanced to the victory stand with three other goals coming from Erik Cole, Patrick Dwyer, Chad LaRose, and Joni Pitkanen.
The first goal came from Staal who capitalized on short-hand to take his team to 1-0 lead six minutes into the first period. Cole took a lead from him and scored the second goal at 17:35 of the first by using a rebound. LaRose did not miss a pass early in the second period and set it up for Dwyer, who took the lead to 3-0.
The third period also started with a goal when Staal stole the puck from Doug Murray and LaRose used that opportunity to drive home the point. The fifth goal for the Hurricanes came from Pitkanen who scored his first of the season at 7:05 in what was the game-decider.
Sharks' Patrick Marleau managed to cut down the Hurricanes' lead by scoring twice and goalie Antti Niemi managed 26 saves but still was unable to improve his record as he has allowed nine goals over the last two games.
