It was a case of too little too late for the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday afternoon.
The Canucks were looking for their third straight win on this four-game road trip but came up short losing to the Carolina Hurricanes 5-3.
Jannik Hansen opened the scoring for the Canucks at 12:02 of the first period. Hansen's shot was redirected by Hurricanes defenceman Joni Pitkanen past goaltender Manny Legace.
The Canucks lead would not last for long as Ray Whitney replied 20 seconds later for the Canes. The Canes would build their lead to 4-1 in the second with three goals, including two from Erik Cole.
The Canucks made a charge to tie the game in the third period. Steve Bernier would score at 10:07 of the third to make it 4-2. Alexandre Burrows would make it a one-goal game at 14:45 of the third period as he batted one past Legace.
But that would be as close as the Canucks would get. Cole found the empty net with 14 seconds left in third period completing his hat-trick.
Backup goaltender Andrew Raycroft made 23 saves in the loss. This was Raycroft's first start since November 10. Legace made 33 saves for Carolina in a winning effort.
Vancouver finishes off their four-game road trip on Tuesday in Nashville, before returning home to open an eight-game home stand on Thursday against Atlanta.
