Teravainen, Niederreiter lead Hurricanes over Canucks 5-2

Teuvo Teravainen had a goal and two assists, Nino Niederreiter scored twice and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 on Wednesday night.

Alex Nedeljkovic made 24 saves for Carolina in his first NHL start. Greg McKegg and Dougie Hamilton each added a goal and an assist as the Hurricanes snapped Vancouver’s five-game point streak in the final game for both teams before the All-Star break.

Sebastian Aho had two assists, and Carolina took five points during a three-game road swing through Canada.

Teravainen’s big performance came two days after the forward agreed to a five-year contract extension worth $27 million. General manager Don Waddell said the deal begins next season, runs through 2023-24 and has an average annual value of $5.4 million.

Josh Leivo and Sven Baertschi scored for the Canucks. Jacob Markstrom stopped 29 shots.

Nedeljkovic was called up this month when Curtis McElhinney sustained a lower-body injury. The 23-year-old netminder was 20-5-2 with the Charlotte Checkers of the American Hockey League.

Nedeljkovic’s first real test of the night came early in the second period after Canucks rookie Elias Pettersson made a no-look pass to Baertschi in front of the Hurricanes net.

Baertschi took the shot, but Nedeljkovic was there to gobble up the puck.

Carolina opened the scoring 1:54 into the second with a power-play goal after Loui Eriksson was called for tripping. Markstrom stopped a shot from Teravainen but couldn’t corral the rebound and it popped out to Niederreiter, who put it into the empty side.

Vancouver responded just more than a minute later with Troy Stecher getting a high pass to Leivo in front of the net. The left wing flicked it in for his ninth goal.

The Canucks went up by one after some stunning stickhandling by Pettersson.

The 20-year-old center started with a behind-the-back pass to Boeser, who got the puck back to him down in front of the Hurricanes net. Instead of shooting, Pettersson sliced a pass to Baertschi and he tipped it in through a hole on Nedeljkovic’s blocker side.

Less than two minutes later, McKegg tied it by beating Markstrom with a rocket of a one-timer. Carolina added three more unanswered goals before the end of the period.

Tempers flared in the third, with two Canucks getting ejected.

Fists started flying 6:30 into the period after Vancouver’s Antoine Roussel took an elbow to the face. The fiery Frenchman pushed through officials to go after Niederreiter and was handed minor penalties for cross-checking and unsportsmanlike conduct, plus a 10-minute misconduct.

Erik Gudbranson joined Roussel in the Canucks dressing room about 10 minutes later.

The defenseman tried to drop the gloves with Andrei Svechnikov after the Carolina right wing banged him into the boards. The play sparked a melee in front of the Hurricanes net, and Gudbranson was given a double-minor for roughing, plus a 10-minute misconduct.

Both teams are now off for the All-Star break followed by a bye week.

UP NEXT

Hurricanes: Back in action Feb. 1 when they host Vegas.

Canucks: Begin a four-game road trip Feb. 2 in Colorado.