RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Carolina Hurricanes hardly knew how to react to such a luxury.

They led by two goals for a chunk of Wednesday night's game and finished with a 4-1 victory against the visiting Edmonton Oilers at PNC Arena.

They could become used to this.

"We showed really good poise and maturity with that two-goal lead," Peters said. "There's a lot of things moving in the right direction."

Centers Jordan Staal, Elias Lindholm, Jeff Skinner and Andrej Nestrasil scored for the Hurricanes, who gave up the first goal and then locked down during an efficient middle part of the game. Nestrasil's goal was an empty-netter.

Goaltender Cam Ward made 30 saves.

Carolina (8-10-4) was 1-2-4 in the previous seven games. The Hurricanes won for the first time in eight games this season in a game decided by three goals or more.

"You can't take your foot off the gas and you have to capitalize on the opportunities," Ward said.

The Hurricanes have posted four-goal outings in two of the past three games after failing to score more than three goals for a 15-game stretch.

"If we play like that, we'll score," Lindholm said. "We were moving the puck fast and moving our feet good. That's something we have to keep on doing."

Left winger Benoit Pouliot scored for the Oilers (7-14-1), who've won only once in a six-game span.

Oilers goalie Anders Nilsson made 23 stops.

"Our goaltender was just fine," Edmonton coach Todd McLellan said. "He wasn't capable of getting up in the forecheck or establishing front-net presence."

But McLellan found plenty of faults in the way the Oilers went about business. They fell to 5-6-0 in games in which they score first.

"That's a really, really disappointing effort for our hockey club," McLellan said. "We weren't engaged physically. We were outworked. … It's the determination factor that I'm looking for and I didn't think we were very determined."

The Hurricanes won for only the third time in 12 games in which the opponent scored first.

Lindholm scored midway through the second period to lift Carolina to a 2-1 lead. That gave Lindholm, who skated in from the left side, seven points in five career games against Edmonton.

"The last couple of games I feel good," Lindholm said. "I wanted to score."

Skinner scored with 3:19 left in the second period, creating a two-goal edge with his redirection of defenseman Justin Faulk's delivery.

"Faulk did a good job shooting it off my ankle, I guess," Skinner said. "Beside the goals, there were a lot more chances generated because of hard work. Guys generating offense and guys spending time in the offensive zone so it was a fun game."

The Oilers scored first when Pouliot converted on a power play just 7:34 into the game. He redirected center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' slap shot after the Oilers collected the puck following an initial shot on the sequence.

Pouliot picked up his 100th career goal. The assist for right winger Nail Yakupov gave him 100 career points.

Staal drew the Hurricanes even with an unassisted goal with 16 seconds left in the first period. It was his first goal in an eight-game stretch and it came as he skated from behind the net and flipped the puck toward the crease, with it bouncing off an Edmonton player.

"Those goals in the first and last minute (of a period) are important in our sport," Peters said.

NOTES: Hurricanes C Nathan Gerbe was placed on injured reserve Tuesday with a lower-body injury suffered last weekend against the Los Angeles Kings. ... Oilers D Oscar Klefbom had a couple of stitches near his right eye after taking a stick to the face in the previous game from Washington Capitals C Nicklas Backstrom. "I got lucky," Klefbom said. "It could be worse, a lot worse." ... Oilers D Andrej Sekera played 131 games for the Hurricanes across the previous two seasons. ... Hurricanes D John-Michael Liles turned 35on Wednesday. ... The Carolina and Edmonton franchises played a memorable seven-game Stanley Cup Finals series 10 seasons ago, with the Hurricanes claiming the 2006 Cup. ... The teams meet again Jan. 4 in Edmonton. ... This was the second stop on a five-game road trip for the Oilers, with Friday night's game at Detroit next on the docket. ... This game wrapped up a nine-game home slate in November for the Hurricanes, who go to Buffalo on Friday night.