RALEIGH — Sunday will be all about Eric Staal.
However, over the last two days, his little brother has taken center stage.
A day after getting a hat trick in a win over visiting Toronto, Jordan Staal starred again, scoring a goal and adding an assist in the Hurricanes’ 2-0 victory over the Canucks at Lenovo Center. Eric Staal will have his No. 12 retired by the Hurricanes before Sunday’s game with Anaheim.
“That’s kind of how hockey works sometimes,” said Staal, who has five goals and three assists in his last four games. “And it’s been fun, it’s been good. And it’s always nice to chip in that way. Obviously, I’ve tried to chip in a lot of different ways to help us win, and it’s always a plus when the puck is going in for me.”
Carolina also suffocated Vancouver, which managed just 14 shots on goalie Dustin Tokarksi, who got his third career shutout and won for the fourth time in five starts since joining the team.
“The goose egg’s just a cherry on top, but … that’s a good team on the other side, and the guys limited them tonight and made my job easy,” he said.
The 34 total shots were the lowest in an NHL game this season, and the Canucks’ 14 were both their fewest of the season and the fewest allowed by the Hurricanes this year.
“You could see the tank was on E, but I thought we dug in and then a couple plays were the difference in the game,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said.
The first of those plays opened the scoring courtesy of Carolina’s red-hot captain.
Staal got the rebound in the slot of a point shot by Dmitry Orlov and fired it past Thatcher Demko (18 saves) for his ninth goal of the year to give Carolina a 1-0 lead at 14:41 of the first.
“It’s funny how when you do things right what happens,” Brind’Amour said of Carolina getting the puck in deep and generating a point shot that led to the goal.
The Hurricanes doubled their lead on an impressive solo effort by Andrei Svechnikov.
The Carolina winger beat Vancouver defenseman Carson Soucy coming out of the corner, drove toward the net and fired a shot over Demko’s blocker for his 14th goal of the year to make it 2-0 just 97 seconds into the second period.
“I didn’t even give him a chance to celebrate,” said Staal, who picked up an assist on the goal. “I was so pumped. It was an unbelievable goal, and I had a front row seat to that one. He’s been taking big steps lately and just really showing what he can do.
Svechnikov added, “I guess that’s my play. I gotta do more often.”
The Hurricanes were able to limit the Canucks throughout the night, and Carolina’s penalty kill went 3 for 3 and allowed just two shots on goal.
“If you want to put your finger on something, the difference was probably our kill,” Brind’Amour said.
The Hurricanes blocked 27 shots, led by five from defenseman Sean Walker, and Jordan Martinook had two blocks late in the game that had him grimacing in pain on the bench and then being led to an exam room after the game by a team doctor.
“I’m a little concerned,” Brind’Amour said. “We won’t know until he gets checked out. … He’s in a little bit of rough shape. Hopefully not serious, but we don’t know.”
Notes: Former Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford, now team president of the Canucks, was at the game and will attend Eric Staal’s jersey retirement ceremony on Sunday. … Elias Pettersson returned to the lineup for Vancouver but was held without a shot on goal. … Orlov picked up an assist and has three in the last four games.
