Hurricanes center Jordan Staal looks toward an injured Jalen Chatfield as he skates toward the penalty box after fighting Minnesota’s Tyler Pitlick during Carolina’s 4-3 Thursday in Raleigh. (Karl DeBlaker / AP Photo)

RALEIGH — It might have been Women in Sports Night at Lenovo Center, but it felt more like All Goals Night in the first 21 minutes.

The Hurricanes and visiting Wild combined for seven goals on the game’s first 12 shots in a wild affair that included an injury to another Carolina defenseman, Jordan Staal’s first fight in more than eight years and a 4-3 win for the home team.

“It’s never going to be a perfect coach’s game all the time,” Staal said. “And I think the guys answered the bell quickly and found ways to use their skill and found ways to get goals and get back into it right away.”

Jackson Blake, Andrei Svechnikov and Sean Walker all had first period goals for the Hurricanes, but the Wild answered with a pair from Matt Boldy and Brock Faber.

Boldy got his second on the power play just 37 seconds into the second period, but Nikolaj Ehlers — coming off his goal of the season two days earlier in New York — scored for the seconds straight game nine seconds later to reestablish Carolina’s lead at 4-3.

“Back-to-back goals, it’s really big for him,” Blake said of Ehlers, “and he’s been solid all year.”

The Hurricanes did most of their damage without two key players.

At 11:46 of the first period, Wild forward Tyler Pitlick caught Jalen Chatfield with a high hit that knocked the Carolina defenseman out for the rest of the game. Staal came to his defense, dropping the gloves for the first time since 2017.

Pitlick was tossed from the game after receiving a match penalty, and Staal matched his career high for penalty minutes by accumulating 17 on the sequence.

“Obviously, it wasn’t a great hit,” Staal said. “I didn’t like it.”

His teammates took notice of their captain coming to a teammate’s defense.

“He set the tone,” Walker said. “And we’ve talked a lot about supporting each other and standing up for each other, and to see your captain go out there and do it and be the first one in there, it’s amazing. He’s an amazing person, great player, better captain.”

Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour didn’t have an update on Chatfield’s status after the game.

That left the Hurricanes without a top defenseman — again — and minus Staal for a large chunk of time. But Carolina’s defense, as it has all season, rose to the challenge.

“They’ve been fighting and working hard and finding ways and digging in, and it’s been good to see,” Staal said of Carolina’s patchwork defense. “And resilience is a key word there for those guys.”

Six goals were scored while Staal sat out, but after that both Frederik Andersen (20 saves) and Filip Gustavsson (23 saves) settled in.

“It was a rough start for both the goalies, right?” Brind’Amour said. “Everything just went in the net. You thought it might be a high-scoring game, and then there’s nothing.”

The Wild couldn’t muster much offense as the game shifted to 5-on-5 nearly all of the final two periods until they lifted Gustavsson for an extra attacker in the final minutes, but Carolina held on to improve to 9-4-0 on the season.

A big part of that was K’Andre Miller, who was playing his first game after missing six straight.

With Chatfield, who he started the game paired with, knocked out of the game, Miller was again pressed into big minutes, playing 23:13 in his return to the lineup.

There was also more ice time for minute-munchers Walker — who added an assist to his goal while playing 24:49 — and Alexander Nikishin, who played 24:42 and picked up an assist.

Notes: Charles Alexis Legault and Pyotr Kochetkov were healthy scratches, while William Carrier, Eric Robinson, Shayne Gostisbehere and Jaccob Slavin remained out with injuries. … Staal won his final 10 faceoffs after losing two in the first nine seconds of the game. … Staal’s 17 minutes matched a career high, which he previously set on Nov. 27, 2009, when with the Penguins. … Nikishin was plus 1, again tying him for the league lead at plus 11. Mike Reilly is also tied for the league lead at plus 11.