RALEIGH — This time, the most was made of an early goal from forward Patrick Dwyer.
And Dwyer is making much of his third stint with the Carolina Hurricanes, who went on to a 3-2 win over Florida Panthers at the RBC Center Saturday.
The Hurricanes (9-20-6) had fallen 6-3 at the Panthers on Friday night. Dwyer scored the first goal in that game, too.
On Saturday, Dwyer, who was called up from the Albany River Rats for the third time this season on Dec. 15, raced to the end boards with Florida’s Keith Ballard and was there to one-time a pass center Matt Cullen wrapped across the crease at 12:28.
Dwyer had been moved into the line with Cullen and Jussi Jokinen, with forward Tom Kostopoulos moving into the line with Brandon Sutter and Sergei Samsonov.
Just over two minutes after Dwyer’s goal, Hurricanes forward Stephane Yelle was sent to the box for tripping.
But on the ensuing penalty kill, former Hurricanes defenseman Dennis Seidenberg couldn’t locate the puck along the blue line and Cullen collected it, with him and Dwyer racing into a two-on-one with Florida defenseman Bryan McCabe.
Cullen sent a glance towards Dwyer to draw off McCabe for a moment, then wristed a shot past Florida goalie Scott Clemmensen for a short-handed goal.
And the other end of the lineup change added a goal in the second period, when Samsonov scored from the left circle on a pass from Kostopoulos. Hurricanes defenseman Jay Harrison connected with Kostopoulos on a pass across the ice just before the Panthers’ blue line.
Carolina goalie Cam Ward had a shutout going into the third period, but was caught behind the net on a weird bounce off the end glass.
Florida defenseman Jordan Leopold had dumped the puck into the Carolina end, but puck rode the glass sill and laid out in front, a gift for Florida center Shawn Matthias at 2:17 in the period.
About three minutes later, Ward turned away a two-on-one attempt with a dazzling save.
Florida (15-15-7) had other late chances.
Forward Tuomo Ruutu was called for holding, and then Florida was set up with 94 seconds of a two-man advantage after hooking penalties from Ray Whitney and Stephane Yelle.
Florida center Stephen Weiss scored his 17th goal of the season at 12:39.
There was about about a minute left in the Yelle’s penalty, but the Hurricanes killed it off.
Carolina’s top center, Eric Staal, had a five-game points streak end.
Missing from the lineup was defenseman Tim Gleason, who was hoped to be healthy. Gleason was struck in the face by a puck last Friday against the Washington Capitals.
Javier Serna has covered sports for The News & Observer since 2007. He previously covered growth for the North Raleigh News, and sports at The Truth in Elkhart, Ind. E-mail
Comments
i did enjoy
Mon, 12/21/2009 - 07:41 — esteban1949watching the game from home, and yes it was great to see the Canes win from others mistakes instead of the Canes losing by their own...I noticed to that harrison and Rodney played really well ...i would love to see Mr. T come back up and try his hand again. but the rats have far greater need of him as the rats despite the first lost in 8 games is doing rather well...as they are second in their division in the AHL...go figure!!
The Canes are Good,My Grandkids are Better, and Life is Great !!
Go Canes !!
Seidenberg a +2
Sun, 12/20/2009 - 17:04 — Hockeydogcompared to A. Ward at -16. Sad part about being a blue liner is mistakes are costlier and more in the spotlight. Only the goalies mistakes are more visible.
nice to see..
Sun, 12/20/2009 - 11:22 — louis12580the N&O actually have a reporter at last nights game. Can't afford to send one to the game in Florida, but can send one to cover the Duke game in snowed in NYC and another to Dallas to cover the UNC game. We all know that college basketball is king in this area. It has a much richer history and all, but I (and a lot of others out there as well) would like to hear an explanation from ownership. It is understandable on their behalf that they don't wend someone when the team is on an extended road trip due to the financial mess that the industry is in, but not sending someone to Florida, or elsewhere for a one and done?
Seindenberg's Mistake
Sun, 12/20/2009 - 10:57 — abramsdougAt the game last night, when Seidenberg had a huge mental lapse and misplayed the puck, setting up Cullen's key shorted-handed goal, I felt somewhat vindicated in my belief Rutherford was correct in not re-signing Seidenberg to a long term contract. As it turned out, Aaron Ward has been awful and I'd much prefer Seidenberg to A. Ward this season. In fact, I personally think that if Seidenberg and not Aaron Ward were on the team this season, the Hurricanes would have a chance, although slight of making the playoffs. That belief says more about the negative impact of Aaron Ward on the defense than the positive influence of Seidenberg.
I would prefer for next year a defenseman other than Seidenberg. I think Seidenberg is one of those defensemen who despite excellent skills seems to be the guy who makes the wrong play at the wrong time.
Every defenseman in the NHL makes mistakes. It is the nature of the mistake, the timing of the mistake, and the thought process that went into making the mistake that differentiates defensemen. As far as I am concerned, Seidenberg does not think ahead of the play well enough and has the proclivity for making the crucial mistake that causes his team to lose.
Ironically, A. Ward had one
Sun, 12/20/2009 - 21:16 — wxray1Ironically, A. Ward had one of his best games of the season last night.
Let's hope it is a trend.
Costly mistake by
Sun, 12/20/2009 - 10:33 — ctillCostly mistake by Seidenberg. Good to see Cullen score -- he's been on a cold streak for a while.