It was a wild night in a galaxy far, far away (PNC Arena) as the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Anaheim Ducks 6-3 on Star Wars Night.
Brady Skjei, Andrei Svechnikov, Jordan Martinook, Stefan Noesen, Jack Drury and Seth Jarvis all scored for Carolina, while Antti Raanta came in relief for the injured Pyotr Kochetkov and stopped four shots in the win.
Period 1
Off the jump, it seemed that the force was not with Michael Bunting as two grade-As came up short for the winger.
In the opening shift, Jesperi Kotkaniemi found him on the backdoor, but John Gibson stoned him on the goal line. A bit after that, he had a rebound bounce out to him in the slot, but his stick shattered as he went to shoot.
Gibson looked to be a fully operational battle station with no weaknesses as he was stopping shot after shot by the Hurricanes' Red Fleet, but it seems that Carolina managed to steal his plans and within 15 seconds they cashed in twice.
First, Jordan Martinook, playing in his 600th career game, got a clear from the defensive zone and sprung the rush.
Then Jordan Staal dropped it to Seth Jarvis who waited just long enough to freeze Gibson and dished to across to Brady Skjei who joined the rush and the defenseman did not miss.
Then 15 seconds later, Teuvo Teravainen spun and fed Sebastian Aho who fed Andrei Svechnikov for another open goal tally.
Just like bulls-eyeing womp rats back home.
Period 2
The Canes were caught sleeping at the onset of the period and Anaheim struck quickly with Isac Lundestrom winding up with a tap-in at the backdoor.
But Carolina responded immediately after as Jarvis set up a streaking Martinook who undressed Gibson to restore the two-goal lead.
Halfway through the period, the Ducks grabbed another one as a Troy Terry shot deflected up high off Kochetkov's stick and Ryan Strome ended up batting it in out of mid-air.
Kochetkov then ended up committing a tripping minor and off the ensuing faceoff, Frank Vatrano ripped one home to tie it up.
Things didn't get any better for Kochetkov after that as Dmitry Orlov bumped Lundestrom on top of his goalie, forcing him out of the game.
But the Hurricanes didn't get rattled and Stefan Noesen scored quickly after the stoppage to put the Canes back ahead.
Then, after Jack Drury was boarded by Sam Carrick, Brendan Lemieux flew in and threw the gloves off and fed Carrick a few. Carolina got a power play out of the scrum and Drury got his revenge cashing in on a feed by Noesen to put the Light Side up 5-3 heading to the third.
You might want to buckle up, baby
Period 3
Carolina locked in for the third period and started to really pull away from the Ducks. They held Anaheim shotless for the first 10 minutes and even through a power play.
Jarvis then capped off his tremendous game by pushing the lead to three halfway through the third period as he deflected a Brent Burns shot home.
The Hurricanes cruised to victory from there and Raanta picked up a 4-save win.
May the force be with you