RALEIGH — Frederik Andersen hadn’t won in nine starts. Jalen Chatfield hadn’t scored in 36 games.
Neither has to worry about those streaks anymore.
Andersen made 11 saves and picked up his first victory since Nov. 6, and Chatfield led the charge in a three-goal second period with a goal and an assist in the Hurricanes’ 5-2 win Thursday over the Ducks at Lenovo Center.
“Sometimes things don’t go your way,” Andersen said. “You’ve just got to keep with it, keep turning the rocks over, finding ways to get better and clean up the game as much as you can. And obviously just believe in yourself that you can eventually turn it around.”
Carolina, trailing 1-0 after the first period, used a three-goal second period to take control and give Andersen the support that has sometimes been lacking the last two months.
Center Mark Jankowski picked up his third goal of the year to tie the game. After linemate Eric Robinson battled to get the puck down low, Jankowski powered through the crease and shoveled a shot into the Anaheim net to tie the score just before the midway point of regulation.
“He was getting it down there somehow, and he did,” Jankowski said of Robinson. “It was a great play by him, and then a great play by Will (Carrier) taking their D to the back door so I had some room to stuff it in there.”
The goal was Jankowski’s third of the year, a stark contrast from the seven goals he scored in his first 10 games following his trade to Carolina last season.
“When I got here last year, they were all going in,” he said. “And you know it’s not going to stay like that, obviously, but it’s good to see them starting to go in now.”
The Ducks reclaimed the lead at 12:04 of the middle frame when Chatfield’s attempt to get the puck deep instead resulted in an odd-man rush for the Ducks. But after Anaheim couldn’t punch the puck past a sprawling Andersen, Mason McTavish found Mikael Granlund at the back post for a tap-in to restore the Ducks’ one-goal lead at 12:04.
Chatfield made up for it.
First, he jumped on a puck in the neutral zone and caught the Ducks changing, setting Taylor Hall in on a 2-on-0 with Logan Stankoven. Hall settled the puck and got it across to Stankoven, who scored for the third straight game at 14:05 to tie the score a second time.
“I just had a good gap,” Chatfield said, “and I kind of saw (Hall) going with speed, and I just tried to get it past the D, and it did — it got past them. And they made a great play to finish.”
Then just over two minutes later, Chatfield scored, firing a shot from above the left circle that made its way through a screen and past Ville Husso (30 saves) to give the Hurricanes their first lead, 3-2 at 16:08.
It was Chatfield’s first goal of the season in his 300th NHL game.
“It was a long grind,” Chatfield said of his path to 300 games. “I didn’t even know today was the day. I was on the way to the rink, and I checked because I knew it was coming up. And I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m at 299. Sweet.’”
The Hurricanes locked the Ducks down much of the night, allowing a season-low 13 shots.
Coach Rod Brind’Amour credited his defense.
“I can’t really say enough about how they played here in the last little bit, just how competitive and really making it hard for the other team to even get in the zone, winning their battles,” he said. “It’s been all the guys. So that’s really been, I think, really the difference.”
And perhaps most importantly, Andersen got back in the win column.
“Good for him,” Brind’Amour said. “He needed to get a win, and just now he can maybe relax a little bit and hopefully build on it.”
Notes: Jaccob Slavin and Noah Philp did not play due to injury. … Jesperi Kotkaniemi was a healthy scratch. … Stankoven has a career-best four-game point streak. … Carolina won 41 of 64 faceoffs, led by 14 of 21 by Jankowski. … Alex Killorn received a 10-minute misconduct late in the third period. … Hall scored an empty-net goal and had two points.
