Jordan Staal scores hat trick to lead Hurricanes to 6-3 win over Maple Leafs

By The Associated Press on January 9, 2025.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Jordan Staal scored a hat trick to lead the Carolina Hurricanes to a 6-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night.

Eric Robinson, Jackson Blake and Seth Jarvis also scored for the Hurricanes while Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 30 shots for his first home win since Dec. 17.

Nicholas Robertson, William Nylander and Auston Matthews scored for Toronto, which had won five in a row. Joseph Woll made 28 saves.

The Maple Leafs took an early 2-0 lead but the Hurricanes evened it at 2-all with Staal’s first goal with 5:45 left in the first period. Staal scored 35 seconds into the second period for a 3-2 lead and 20 seconds into the third period to extend Carolina’s lead to 5-3.

Takeaways

Maple Leafs: The Leafs were running hot but without much recent scoring help from Nylander, who leads the team with 24 goals. He had two breakaway chances in the first and scored on one, his first goal since Dec. 21, a span of eight games.

Hurricanes: The Hurricanes will retire Eric Staal’s number (12) on Sunday. His younger brother, Jordan, took the spotlight on Thursday with his fourth career hat trick. The first of his career, when he was 18 and playing for the Pittsburgh Penguins, also came against the Maple Leafs on Feb. 10, 2007.

Key moment

After trading special-teams goals in the first two minutes of the second period, the Hurricanes took a 4-3 lead on rookie Blake’s goal at 4:58 in the second. With the assist, Juha Jaaska recorded his first career NHL point.

Key stat

Martin Necas began the season as Carolina’s top scoring option with 14 goals in the first 25 games. Necas has cooled off from his hot start with only one goal in the past 16 games.

Up Next

The Hurricanes host Vancouver on Friday night while the Maple Leafs get Vancouver at home on Saturday night.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

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