RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes had such a rough start Thursday against Toronto that Rod Brind’Amour briefly couldn’t watch.

After an early turnover near the Carolina blue line, the Canes coach turned his back at the bench and shook his head. The Maple Leafs had a breakaway and scored for a two-goal lead.

But there was much good for Brind’Amour and Canes fans to see after a rugged first 10 minutes in the game — especially when Jordan Staal was on the ice.

The Canes’ captain had hats flying onto the ice early in the third period, after his third goal of the night. Staal’s fourth career hat trick fueled a 6-3 victory at Lenovo Center.

Staal’s brother, Eric, will have his jersey — No. 12 — retired before Sunday’s game against the Anaheim Ducks. But No. 11, Jordan Staal, had himself a game Thursday.

Eric Robinson, rookie Jackson Blake and Seth Jarvis added goals for the Canes, who face the Vancouver Canucks on Friday before the Anaheim game. Jordan Martinook had a career-high three assists, all on the Staal goals.

The Canes were able to shake off and recover from the bad start Thursday because goalie Pyotr Kochetkov was able to shake it off and recover. Kochetkov was his usual scrambling self in net, making acrobatic saves, losing his stick at times, sprawling, doing whatever he could to keep the puck out of the net.

The Leafs, rolling into Raleigh with a five-game win streak, picked up goals from Nick Robertson and then William Nylander in the first 7 1/2 minutes of the first. But after falling behind 2-0, the Canes needed 17 seconds to make it 2-2.

First, Robinson went to the front of the net and knocked in a rebound of a Ty Smith shot. Moments later, Staal scored his first of the game off Andrei Svechnikov’s crisp centering pass from behind the net.

Staal’s second goal of the game came during another rapid-fire sequence — both teams scoring — early in the second period.

Canes defenseman Brent Burns was called for high-sticking, but Staal teamed up with Martinook for a short-handed score that had the building rumbling.

The Leafs used five forwards on their power-play unit, putting a lot of firepower on the ice but not a lot of defensive awareness. For Staal, the “shorty” gave him his first two-goal game since April 16, 2022 and gave the Canes a 3-2 lead.

Briefly. The Leafs continued the power play and scored 36 seconds later, Auston Matthews diving across the crease to knock a rebound past Kochetkov for the 3-3 tie.

A rookie would untie it. The Canes’ Jackson Blake earned his ninth of the season, taking a Juha Jaaska pass and beating goalie Joseph Woll with a quick release.

Staal’s third came early in the third period on a redirection of a Burns shot. That came after some hustling forechecking work by Martinook, who earned a career-best third assist of the game.

Toronto had Matthews back in the lineup after missing six games with an upper-body injury and he quickly piled up points — two goals and five assists in three games before Thursday.

The Leafs emptied the net for a sixth attacker with four minutes left in regulation but Jarvis soon scored for a 6-3 lead.

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