Ehlers scored on a breakaway between Merilainen’s legs at 10:22 to make it 5-3, and passed to Stankoven on a 2-on-1 rush for an empty-net goal at 17:57 for the 6-3 final.
But most of the focus after the game was on Deslauriers, who now has 806 penalty minutes and 109 points (55 goals, 54 assists) in his NHL career.
“It’s obviously huge,” Ehlers said of the depth scoring. “It was there all of last year, and that took us all the way and in this League, you got to have every single guy contributing. This year we’ve done a really good job of that as well, so seeing a guy like him, who’s always in a great mood, works hard, it is incredible.”
Stankoven and Ehlers also had assists, and Jackson Blake had three assists for the Hurricanes (8-2-1), who bounced back from a 3-2 loss at the Calgary Flames on Sunday for their eighth win in their past nine games. Pyotr Kochetkov made 14 saves, including denying Drew O’Connor on a breakaway with the game tied late in the second period.
“He made one big save that we needed,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said of Kotchetkov, who is 6-0-0 this season. “That might have been all we needed, but we needed it, and that’s what goaltending is about: When we need a big save, he gave it to us.”
Linus Karlsson, Jonathan Lekkerimaki and Max Sasson scored, and Jake DeBrusk had two assists for the Canucks (2-8-1), who have lost eight in a row (0-7-1), including a 7-2 loss in Carolina on Oct. 8. Merilainen made 38 saves.
It was the fourth straight game the Canucks have been tied or leading going into the third period. They’ve lost all four (0-3-1) while being outscored 9-0 in the third period and overtime.
“It’s a really good lesson for our group that when your game lacks details in the third, or when you open up the door against teams that we’ve been playing, they make you pay,” Vancouver coach Manny Malhotra said. “To be in the games, obviously, a lot of good things, to be able to claw and scratch our way to stay in these games. But it’s a valuable lesson to us that 40 (minutes) is not good enough, 45 is not good enough, 50 is not good enough in this League. We have to stay with the process.”
Stankoven put the Hurricanes ahead 1-0 at 4:44 of the first period, taking a drop pass from Blake above the left hash marks in the high slot and firing a quick wrist shot over Merilainen’s glove.