RALEIGH, N.C. — After becoming the fourth-youngest player in Carolina Hurricanes franchise history to score 100 career goals, Jeff Skinner is looking forward to his next milestone.
Justin Faulk had a goal and two assists and Skinner had a goal and an assist to help the Hurricanes beat the Calgary Flames 4-1 on Monday night.
Skinner is behind only Sylvain Turgeon, Ron Francis and Geoff Sanderson as the youngest in franchise history to reach the 100-goal mark, but he is the youngest since the team moved from Hartford in 1997.
"It’s pretty cool," Skinner said. "It’s a nice achievement but I’m ready to go for the next one. (Alexander) Semin did a great job finding me and I got a great screen in front by (Jay McClemment) so I don’t think (Hiller) saw it."
David Jones gave the Flames a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 13:07 of the first period. Calgary held a modest 8-5 shot advantage in the first period but were outshot 26-15 the rest of the way, including 12-5 in the third period.
"They capitalized on our turnovers and that was kind of the difference in the game," Jones said. "We’ve been away for a while but we should have had our legs tonight. We just came up short and we’ll regroup and get ready for the next game."
Zach Boychuk tied it with 2:30 left in the first period for the Hurricanes, who won for the fifth time in six games since starting the season 0-6-2.
Boychuk’s shot went off Jonas Hiller’s mask and into the net.
"It’s tough going down one but when you bounce back with a goal it lifts the bench," Boychuk said. "I was able to win the battle on the boards and get a shot off."
Faulk scored a power-play goal at 4:50 of the second period, four seconds after Devin Setoguchi went off for holding the stick. Faulk scored from the slot after taking a pass off the faceoff from Riley Nash.
Skinner’s goal gave the Hurricanes a 3-1 lead at 12:15 of the second.
He added an assist on Tim Gleason’s third-period goal that made it 4-1. It was Gleason’s first goal of the season.
"We remembered how we played in Calgary and were very disappointed in that effort," Ward said of their 6-0 loss to the Flames on Oct. 23. "We wanted to use that as motivation tonight to make sure we got off to a good start. In the second period, the game shifted and we took over."
Carolina goalie Cam Ward finished with 22 saves to win his fifth straight decision.
Hiller stopped 27 shots for the Flames. The Flames fell to 3-2 on their road trip.
Calgary, which had the most road wins in the NHL with seven, finished its five-game road trip with a 3-2 mark.
NOTES: Carolina has earned points in six straight games, its longest streak of the season. … Calgary D Mark Giordano extended his point streak to seven games with an assist on the Flames’ goal against Carolina. He has 14 assists to lead NHL defencemen. … The Flames remained stuck on 1,499 regular-season wins after losing to Carolina.
NOTES: Carolina has earned points in six straight games, its longest streak of the season. … Calgary D Mark Giordano extended his point streak to seven games with an assist on the Flames’ goal against Carolina. He has 14 assists to lead NHL defencemen. … The Flames remained stuck on 1,499 regular-season wins after losing to Carolina.
