RALEIGH, N.C. – When the leaders of the NHL’s East and West met Thursday night in North Carolina, each team took a turn as the best by a country mile.

During the third period, no one gave an inch.

Under pressure near the corner of the Avalanche bench, Carolina defenseman Ethan Bear threw a nonthreatening shot at the net and ended a stalemate lasting 54 minutes, 20 seconds Thursday night at PNC Arena.

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Sebastian Aho supplemented with an empty-net goal and the Hurricanes took the tense win, 2-0.

Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog called it a playoff game.

“Thought it was a good matchup. It was fun, physical. Two good teams going at it,” he said.

The Avalanche were shut out for the first time in their 59th game of the season. It wasn’t for lack of effort.

“I thought it was a well-played hockey game by both teams. Highly competitive, lots of pace, not a lot of room to move,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “That’s why the score was 0-0.”

A recently separated goaltending tandem kept the game scoreless through two. Carolina’s Antti Raanta and Colorado’s Darcy Kuemper spent the past four seasons sharing the Arizona Coyotes’ net. Arizona reached the postseason once during their tenures.

Kuemper was the pulse of his team in the first 10 minutes and turned aside 19 shots on goal in the period.

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“I thought he did a great job of settling things down and keeping us in that game, because they came out fast and hard in the first period and he made some big stops,” Landeskog said.

Colorado’s hands and speed showed up for the second period. The Avalanche outshot the Hurricanes 17-6.

In particular, Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon couldn’t catch a break. His pass through the crease to Mikko Rantanen turned into a goalpost ding in the first five minutes of the second period. On one shift during the third, MacKinnon hit the post and sent a promising chance over the net. He looked skyward.

Bear’s winning shot hit Nazem Kadri in front, from what Bednar saw.

“They threw one to the net, which is what can happen,” the coach said.

The Avalanche penalty kill was 4-for-4. Colorado is winless in four of its past five games.

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Note: Bednar said defenseman Samuel Girard left the team’s road trip and went back to Denver to be evaluated for a lower-body injury.

Kurtis MacDermid, the healthy scratch Tuesday against New Jersey, slid into Girard’s spot and played 8:50. He started out paired with Ryan Murray while Erik and Jack Johnson played together.