Staff photo by Chris Seward
• First Look: 100 unedited images
RALEIGH — Just when all seemed lost for the Carolina Hurricanes, they found a way to win.
Matt Cullen and Chad LaRose each scored a pair of goals for the Canes, who summoned up enough late energy to rally past the New York Islanders 5-4 Friday night at the RBC Center.
The Islanders, trailing 2-0 after the first period, surged ahead 4-3 after the second. But Cullen's second goal, on a power play with 6:38 left in the game, tied the score 4-4 and LaRose made it 5-4 with 4:21 left.
The Canes, with a seventh straight home victory, passed Montreal and the New York Rangers to move into sixth place in the Eastern Conference. Carolina, which has nine games left to play, faces the Washington Capitals Saturday at the RBC Center.
Goals by the Isles' Frans Nielsen and Richard Park early in the second period tied the score 2-2, and the Isles took their first lead when defenseman Bruno Gervais scored on a 2-on-1 pass from Andy Hilbert.
Mark Streit made it 4-2 with 1:08 left in the second on a power-play goal after the first penalty of the game — a delay-of-game against Canes defenseman Joni Pitkanen.
The Canes' Tuomo Ruutu scored with 53.6 seconds left in the period after Erik Cole drove the net and was knocked into rookie goaltender Peter Mannino.
Cullen scored 44 seconds into the game and LaRose scored with 1:08 left in the first period for a 2-0 Canes lead.
The Canes' Eric Staal was injured with 18:24 left in the second and taken to the locker room. Staal was driving the net when he collided with defenseman Bruno Gervais, fell over Mannino and hit his helmet on the left post.
Staal was on the ice for a few minutes before skating off on his own power. Jussi Jokinen moved up to center the line, but Staal soon returned to the game.
The Isles made it a 2-1 game on Nielsen's goal at 2:30 of the second. Park then scored at 5:54 for the 2-2 tie, skating in and beating Cam Ward with a high backhander.
A puck-handling gaffe by Mannino led the Cullen goal. Mannino, making his second NHL start, tried to play the puck behind the net but had it go back through his skates past the goal line. Cullen, skating in, had an open net and picked up his 21st goal.
Cullen also assisted on the goal by LaRose, his 15th of the season and first in eight games. Cullen and Ray Whitney, who earned his second assist, both handled the puck in the Isles zone before Cullen found LaRose moving left to right in front of the goal.
A Raleigh native, Chip has worked at the N&O since 1979 and is the Canes beat writer. He can be reached at
Comments
I was there and it was
Sat, 03/21/2009 - 14:20 — ctillI was there and it was enjoyable. But, the Canes defense gave up too many odd-man rushes... not something to let continue.
breaks
Sat, 03/21/2009 - 09:52 — louis12580In the end he 'Canes caught a couple of breaks and too advantage of them. I've seen lesser contact called goaltender interference called, but I have also seen Cam get mugged and it not be called. Guess the law of averages caught up in our favor. Anton should have been called for holding just before we went on the 5 on 3 at the end of the game. We also dodged a couple of bullets at the end when the Islanders could have had a breakaway on our power play. Bottom line is the 'Canes took advantage of those opportunities and won the game. By the way, did anyone catch coaches post game quip concerning the Caniacs. He was very pleased and encouraged by their support at the end of the 2nd. period and mad mention of that and also mentioned a team from up north. He said that if it were the fans from the team up north, the team would have been booed off the ice.
Gee who'd a thought
Sat, 03/21/2009 - 09:40 — esteban1949There would be a Chad LaRose love fest today ??hehehe...But i do freely admit i have been a long time fan of his even though when he first got here he struggled ...but with all the mentoring he got from the Capt, from Ray Whitney it seems the cane's favorite "rose' has begun to bloom...Ok,ok while that may be "korny", but it is the truth...no ? And yes during the second period there was some mis-handling of the puck and mis-ques...by Pikinen...but that is going to happen from time to time...and i am sure that the coaching staff will remind them of just how being "rusty' that day off nearly cost the canes. As it seemed the the Isalnders were perfect in their place in playing the "spoiler", i am sure the Caps will try the same thing tonite...And it was sorta funny how tripp seemed to have fun there in middle of both benches...and there 2 great interviews with Whitney & LaRose......i had to laugh though...it seems Whitney has a bur under his saddle about Tripp being there in the middle..hmmm anyone got a clue on that ?
Go Canes !!
Good Win ... Good News
Sat, 03/21/2009 - 09:14 — NetMinderGood teams find a way to win, even when they're having a bad game. The Canes didn't look like the Canes until the 3rd. The rest of the game the Isles were having their way with us. Then again, the Isles were playing fast and loose, a nothing-to-lose style that only a team with no chance at the playoffs would play. They made our defense look sick and were it not for Cam we would have been on the wrong side of a laugher. The good news is we got 2 points.The even better news is there's no way we're coming out and playing the same way against the Caps ... not after the schooling the Isles gave our defense. Look for a strong defensive effort and major jump tonight.
Winning ugly
Sat, 03/21/2009 - 09:08 — wxray1It is OK. You have to win ugly sometimes.
But it wasn't that ugly. The Canes owned the 3rd period. The house was on fire, the crowd electric. Very entertaining.
Sitting there during the 2nd intermission, thoughts of this blog flashed through my head. I'm thinking, "Oh man, there's gonna be a lot of crying."
But it turned out for the best. Let's hope Eric is OK. The Isles are dangerous with nothing to lose. The Cap's situation is interesting. They are playing for position, but are they really? Between 2nd and 3rd? It will be interesting to see tonight...
no one says a win has to be
Fri, 03/20/2009 - 23:54 — jgrant641no one says a win has to be pretty.
no one says a win has to be perfect.
Everyone knows all we need is the 2 points.
certainly a few things that likely will be addressed, but 2 points is 2 points.
the good: Cullen, LaRose, Whitney line
the bad: Pitkanen, he was asleep at the wheel for several Isles goals.
Amen
Sat, 03/21/2009 - 09:14 — JRs_FaultThey had to steal back a Win that should have been in the bag. The loose defense was there in the first and caught up with them in the second.
Rarely do I sit watching this team and comment out loud about what a bad game someone is having, but Joni was flat out terrible, despite some otherwise decent outings lately.
And I will admit, that for once in a long string of games against a bunch of #2 (or lower) goalies, this time it really did make a difference... this effort wouldn't have been enough against most NHL quality goalies... that first goal was reminiscnent of 2006 Finals Game 1 ... except nobody had to steal the puck.
A Rose ...
Fri, 03/20/2009 - 22:34 — Canenutby any other name is Chad = winner.
I am so happy for Chad, what an example to all of us that were told you can not play a sport.
MVP
Fri, 03/20/2009 - 22:23 — CaniacGuyTwo Words
Chad
LaRose