Wild 3 - 2 Hurricanes
Final - 2OT
  for this game

'Canes shoot for third straight win in home test vs. Wild

Nov 9, 2013 - 4:09 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Carolina Hurricanes will shoot for their first three-game winning streak of the season when they host the Minnesota Wild in an interconference battle at PNC Arena.

The Hurricanes are off to a 2-0 start to a five-game homestand and their win Tuesday against Philadelphia halted an 0-5-0 losing streak. Carolina added to the 2-1 overtime win versus the Flyers by edging the New York Islanders, 1-0, on Thursday.

Carolina scored the only goal of Thursday's game less than seven minutes into the first period and Justin Peters stopped all 21 shots he faced to record his second straight win after losing all five tilts during the Hurricanes' recent slide.

Peters earned his first shutout and second win of the season since taking the place of injured starter Cam Ward. He expects to get a seventh straight start on Saturday.

The lone goal of Thursday's game came when Ron Hainsey took a shot from the point that Radek Dvorak deflected past Kevin Poulin.

"Any time you get the lead in the first, it is a little bit easier. It was a hard game, very up and down for 60 minutes. We came away with two points," said Dvorak.

Carolina hasn't won three straight since posting a four-game winning streak from Feb. 28-March 5 of last season.

The Hurricanes, who will host Colorado and Anaheim before completing this homestand, are 3-3-3 on home ice this season.

Minnesota, meanwhile, will aim for its first ever road win against the Hurricanes. The Wild are 0-3-2 as the guest in this series and that includes a 2-1 shootout loss in Helsinki, Finland on Oct. 8, 2010. The last time Minnesota actually played in Raleigh was on Nov. 15, 2009, when it suffered another shootout loss.

The Wild, however, did earn a 3-1 home win over Carolina on Oct. 24, halting a four-game slide in this series. Nino Niederreiter, Zach Parise and Dany Heatley each had goals for Minnesota in that win.

Minnesota has yet to lose in regulation this month, but it had a three-game win streak snapped in Thursday's shootout loss at Washington. Nicklas Backstrom scored the lone goal of the shootout in the third round to lift the Capitals to a 3-2 decision over the Wild.

After the first four shooters came up empty, Backstrom skated in and rifled a wrister from between the circles past the glove-side of Josh Harding. Braden Holtby then turned away Charlie Coyle to send the Capitals to the win.

Coyle and Mikael Granlund each scored in regulation for the Wild, who had won six of their last seven games coming into the contest. Harding finished with 25 saves in the setback and earned praise from Parise.

"Right now, I think he's playing with a lot of confidence," Parise said of Harding. "If he sees the puck, he's saving it. It's a good feeling for us. He couldn't really do much about either of those goals tonight; there's nothing he could do."

Harding had won five straight starts before Thursday's loss. Niklas Backstrom, who hasn't seen action since starting against Chicago on Oct. 28, could get the call on Saturday. Backstrom is 3-1-2 with a 2.62 goals against average in seven career appearances versus Carolina, while Harding is 1-1-0 with a 2.41 GAA against them.

Minnesota, which is 2-3-2 as the road team this season, is capping a brief two-game swing on Saturday. Next up for the Wild is a three-game homestand that is set to begin Wednesday against Toronto.






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