RALEIGH Carolina Hurricanes coach Bill Peters has talked about his team finding an identity: a winning mentality based on hard work and discipline.With their fourth-straight win Sunday, a 2-1 decision over the Winnipeg Jets, Peters got all that.”This game that we’re playing right now can go on the road and win, be successful with it,” Peters said as his team now embarks on a stretch of nine out of the next 11 away from PNC Arena. “It’s a good team game, it’s four lines deep right now. That was the best we’ve played with all four lines having positive contributions.”The Hurricanes smothered and frustrated the visiting Jets, who resorted to post-whistle cheap shots and being more concerned with finishing their checks than scoring goals. When the Jets did make a push, Carolina found the resiliency lacking when the two teams met in their season opener a come-from-behind Jets overtime win to close out the win.”We didn’t forget what happened in Game 1, so we wanted to make sure that we kept our foot on the gas for the full 60 minutes,” Cam Ward, who made 28 saves in earning his fourth-straight win, said.The Hurricanes (7-6-4) got on the board early when Elias Lindholm scored his first goal of the season at 6:45 of the first period, beating Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck on the short side to make it 1-0.A rough and tumble second period was triggered when Carolina’s Brock McGinn leveled Winnipeg defenseman Toby Enstrom seven minutes into the middle frame.Andrew Copp took exception and took a penalty, but that was just a sampling of the animosity and infractions that would come the rest of the period. In all, five minors were called in the second half of the frame.”It brings the intensity and the level of the game up that much more and makes it a lot much more personal out there,” McGinn said of the game turning chippy following his hit. “You don’t want to get loose out there or anything after that. You want to let them make the mistakes and get those penalties that get us the power play. So you just want to keep your cool out there and keep playing.”The Jets (9-10-2) antics spilled into the third period, and Carolina who got a season-high 40 shots on goal finally capitalized.On the power play, Jeff Skinner fired the puck at a screened Hellebuyck. Lee Stempniak, the man in front, got the rebound and fed it to Victor Rask who made it 2-0 with his team-leading eighth goal of the season.The Jets responded, with Mark Scheifele who led the NHL in scoring coming into the game getting his 11th goal of the season.But the Carolina power play struck again to ice it. Noah Hanifin’s point shot glanced a Winnipeg player and got past Hellebuyck to give Carolina a two-goal cushion. Another Jets penalty helped Carolina close out their home stand with a win.”I really like the quality of the chances we generated, and then the fact that we scored the game-winner and the insurance marker on the power play is very encouraging moving forward,” Peters said.With a Canadian road trip looming, Carolina is showing the confidence to win in any situation.”We’re always going to try and find ways to get better, even now,” Jordan Staal said. “We’re getting contributions from a lot of guys throughout the lineup, and that’s helping us win games. It’s not the same guys every night. You can tell the depth of our team is starting to come through and a lot of guys have stepped up of late.”Notes: Viktor Stalberg finished with a game-high six hits in just 10:02 minutes. The game had 83 total hits … Carolina, the fourth-best faceoff team coming into the game, won 61 percent of the draws against the NHL-worst Jets. … Rask has now scored a goal in four of his past five games. … In the past five games, Teuvo Teravainen who had one assist Sunday has three goals and four assists. … The win pushed Carolina over the .500 mark for the first time this season.
