Oct 17, 2026 11:20 PM

Despite a sluggish start, Carolina extended their winning streak to seven as Nikolaj Ehlers secured an emotional victory against his former team during a resilient road performance.

The Carolina Hurricanes continue to rack up wins, extending the winning streak to seven Saturday evening in Winnipeg.

Mark Jankowski, Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Nikolaj Ehlers all scored for the Hurricanes, while Pyotr Kochetkov made 21 saves in the win.

After the game, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour along with Jankowski and Ehlers spoke with the media in Canada. Here's what they had to say:

Rod Brind'Amour

On the game: I thought we were a little sluggish to start the game, making some uncharacteristic mistakes, but then I thought we got to it and looked a lot better. Obviously pulled it out.

On responding to the "freebie" goals against: There were two [goals] that you didn't really like. They didn't do much to get those, but then I thought we buckled down and played a real good second half of the game. Going up and down the lineup, I felt like everyone was contributing tonight. That's what you have to have, especially with the guys we have out. Give the guys a lot of credit for the way they stepped up.

On Nikolaj Ehlers' game-winning goal: That whole power play was really good. We had four or five really good looks and they stuck with it. Obviously nice to see Niki get one here coming up. I know it's a bit emotional for him, spent so much time here. Maybe not so nice for the Winnipeg people, but that was nice for him to get that.

On what's been going so right for Mark Jankowski: That's a good question. He's a solid player. Ever since we picked him up, that's what he's been doing and now, a little more opportunity, and suddenly he's cashing in. He's a guy that can do a little bit of everything and we need that right now.

On Jankowski being a jack-of-all-trades kind of player: It says a lot about the quality of player. He's a guy that we can rely on in every situation. And when you have out the guys we have, that's what we need. He's been stepping up in that role very, very well.

On Ehlers saying the team isn't yet where they want to be: That's the answer. You can always be better. Like I said, we didn't maybe love the start as much and there were some mistakes we were making, and that's probably what he's referring to, but we're always pushing that we need to continue to grow as a group and so that's exactly the right answer.

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Mark Jankowski

On the game: I think we just stuck with it. Probably wasn't our best early on in the first there, but then once we got to our game, we kind of got to it. Rolled four lines, had everyone chipping in and it was a huge team victory.

On his goal-scoring streak: It just feels great to help the team win any way possible. That's always been my philosophy. Just trying to do all the little things right and then eventually the goals and all that come afterward. Just trying to do all the little things, trying to produce and just trying to help the team in any way I can.

On the power play: I thought the whole unit moved around well. The first unit obviously did a great job moving it around and getting that third one for us and then our unit made some great plays. Stanky made a great play taking it to the net and everyone kind of converged on him and the puck just popped out to me.

On Bradly Nadeau and Felix Unger Sorum: They were great. They're both used to that role [power play]. They're skilled players, they make plays and have great shots and vision and everything. I thought they were really good on the power play and 5v5 as well. They did a really good job stepping in there.

Nikolaj Ehlers

On the game: We didn't play very well today, I thought. We didn't do what we normally do, so that's something that we have to look at and talk about. But overall, I mean, we did what we needed to to get the two points. PK was big. We got a lot better than that.

On the power play: I thought the way we were trying to attack and get shots, the way we got the pucks after shots is what gave us the time and chances to keep going at them. At the end, I think they got a little tired because we kept getting the pucks back and at that time, you just have to keep pressing it on them.

On continuing to build as the road trip progresses: It's a long season and we're only in the beginning of it. We know we have a lot better than we did tonight. We're not exactly where we want to be yet. But again, it's a long season. We have a lot of time to keep making the small details better, which is what we did last year and we have to continue to do that this year. 

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