RALEIGH, N.C. — In the second game of a back-to-back in the NHL, it’s often more about the grit and grind than anything fun or flashy.

So it was Friday as the Carolina Hurricanes battled the Vancouver Canucks at the Lenovo Center. It was 60 minutes of board battles, hard hits, blocked shots and men at work as the Canes took a 2-0 victory behind goalie Dustin Tokarski’s 15-save shutout.

The Hurricanes (26-15-2) had not won consecutive games since beating Columbus and the New York Islanders in mid-December. They’ll look to add another Sunday against the Anaheim Ducks after first celebrating the jersey retirement of former star Eric Staal — an honor that apparently has rubbed off well on brother Jordan Staal, the Canes’ team captain.

Staal, suddenly unstoppable with the puck on his stick, produced the first goal of Friday’s game — his fifth in five periods of play spread over three games — by following up the rebound of a Dmitry Orlov shot.

After his hat trick Thursday in the 6-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, Staal and his line again did a lot of heavy lifting Friday. Andrei Svechnikov scored in the second period with a sweet move — Staal with the assist — and Jordan Martinook continued his hustle and hitting on the forecheck.

Svechnikov’s second goal in as many nights was highlight-worthy. The power forward, taking a pass from Staal, carried the puck behind the Vancouver net, then stopped and spun out of the corner around defenseman Carson Soucy. With Martinook battling defenseman Noah Juulsen in front of the crease, Svechnikov got off a rising shot for his 14th goal of the season.

“I had a front-row seat on that one,” Staal said. “It was an unbelievable goal. He’s been taking big steps lately and showing what he can do. He’s strong as an ox and he had a great goal there.”

One shift in the second period was a demolition derby on ice as the Staal line traded hits and bodies hit the ice. There was some frustration in the Canucks’ play by then; they obviously wanted to ratchet up the physicality after falling behind 2-0, and the Canes were ready for it.

“It was kind of a muck-it-up game where you had to be patient,” Staal said. “In those games, it’s always nice to be in the lead and grind it out that way.”

The back-to-back set allowed Tokarski to play his fifth game for the Canes. In the other net: Thatcher Demko, who had been sidelined three games by back spasms.

Tokarski did not see a lot of rubber but made a few high-quality saves in his fourth win. He and his teammates blocked 27 shots, defenseman Sean Walker leading the way with five.

“We had to eat a lot of pucks,” Staal said.

Martinook blocked two and was injured doing it, although Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour was unsure of the severity after the game.

Also returning to the Canucks’ lineup was Elias Pettersson, who had missed six games with an upper-body injury. Pettersson’s line started the game and was countered by Sebastian Aho’s line for the Canes, as it was much of the night.

Vancouver was 0-3 on the power play, managing just two shots. The Canucks (18-13-10) had 20 shooting attempts miss the net as well as all the Canes’ blocks.

“It was a weird game with not a lot going on,” Brind’Amour said. “It’s been a lot of games and you could see the tank was on ‘E’ but we dug in. “

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