Ehlers nets hat trick as Carolina Hurricanes dump sagging Canucks 6-4

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Nikolaj Ehlers scored three times, pacing the visiting Carolina Hurricanes to a 6-4 win over the Vancouver Canucks in NHL action Wednesday at Rogers Arena.

Andrei Svechnikov, Sean Walker and Sebastian Aho also scored for Carolina (39-16-6), with Seth Jarvis adding two assists. Brandon Bussi got the win in goal, making 18 saves.

Marco Rossi, Filip Hronek, Brock Boeser and Nils Höglander replied for the Canucks (18-36-7), who have dropped seven games in a row. Hronek and centre Elias Pettersson each had two helpers for Vancouver. Goalie Kevin Lankinen stopped 18 of 22 shots before being pulled in favour of Nikita Tolopilo, who saved nine of 10 shots.

Carolina carried the play through much of the first period, outshooting Vancouver 15-7 but the ‘Canes found themselves trailing 2-1 after 20 minutes.

Svechnikov opened the scoring on the power play 1:17 into the game, taking a nice backhand pass from Jarvis and beating Lankinen for his 22nd goal of the year.

At one point in the period, the shots on goal were 12-1 in favour of Carolina but the Canucks responded with two goals in 44 seconds to take the lead.

Rossi scored his sixth of the year on the power play at 16:31, taking a pass from Pettersson down low and having it go in off a defender.

Hronek also tallied his sixth of the season at 17:15, moving in from the right point and blasting a feed from Drew O’Connor past Bussi.

Carolina quickly reclaimed their territorial edge in the second period, scoring four times.

Walker knocked home a loose puck at 2:30 for his fifth of the year and less than two minutes later, Ehlers fired a shot from the left offensive faceoff circle over the glove of Lankinen to give Carolina a 3-2 lead.

Aho upped the margin to 4-2 at 11:53, knocking down a pass in mid-air, then moving in and lifting a backhand glove-side past Lankinen. Aho has 23 goals on the year.

After the goal, Lankinen was pulled in favour of Tolopilo, who promptly gave up a goal on the first shot he saw.

Ehlers added his second of the night, and 18th of the season, at 12:50, beating Tolopilo stick-side from the left circle.

The Canucks pulled one back on a two-man advantage with 42 seconds left in the period. Boeser took a nice cross-crease feed from Rossi for his 13th of the season.

Shot after 40 minutes favoured the Hurricanes, 25-14.

In the final period, Höglander pulled Vancouver within 5-4 at 6:45, converting a feed from Pettersson for his first goal of the year.

The Canucks were unable to pull even and Ehlers sealed the win with an empty-net goal with 14 seconds left.

Vancouver visits the Chicago Blackhawks Friday (5:30 p.m.).

NOTES: The Canucks traded veteran defenceman Tyler Myers to the Dallas Stars earlier Wednesday. Vancouver acquired Dallas’s second-round draft pick in 2027 and fourth-round draft pick in 2029. The Canucks will retain 50 per cent of Myers’s salary through next season… Vancouver converted two of four power-play chances against Carolina, while the Hurricanes went 2-for-3.