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Walker, Whitney lift Hurricanes past Kings

Feb 14, 2007 - 4:32 AM RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Carolina Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette was glad to see his team take an early lead.

Scott Walker and Ray Whitney scored goals and Cam Ward made 21 saves as the Hurricanes won for the third time in four games, 2-1 over the Los Angeles Kings.

In ending a three-game home losing streak, Carolina won for the 20th time in as many chances when leading after two periods. The Hurricanes captured their only meeting of the season with the Kings in their first matchup here since November 8, 2003.

"They beat Nashville the other night and if you're not ready, then you're going to get your butt handed to you," Hurricanes captain Rod Brind'Amour said. "We came out ready and got the win."

Walker snapped a 1-1 tie with 5:04 remaining in the second period with a slapshot from inside the blue line that got past former Hurricane goaltender Sean Burke for his first goal in nine games and 17th of the campaign.

"Our cycle game was working when we had it," Walker said. "I just came around and it parted like the Red Sea. ... (Andrew Ladd) was right there in front and (Burke) didn't see a thing."

"It was a good goal for us," Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette said. "That's the strength of our game when we start to move like that down low and get guys cutting back and thinking about activating, just maintaining possession. Scotty Walker made a great play. He came across the top and let it rip."

Carolina opened the scoring on a power play with 1:10 left in the first period when Brind'Amour made a centering pass to Whitney, who beat Burke from the slot for his 26th tally.

"It was a power play so it was a little different than 5-on-5," Whitney said. "(Brind'Amour) made a great play and my job from there was pretty easy."

Alexander Frolov became the first Kings player since Ziggy Palffy in 2002-2003 to score 30 goals in a season when he redirected defenseman Brent Sopel's shot by Ward's right pad with 8:29 left in the middle session.

"It was a power play and it was a great pass by (Derek) Armstrong to Sopel," Frolov said. "It's pretty good to score 30 goals but the season has not ended. We still have a lot of games we can try to win. We're playing better and better."

Ward, last season's Conn Smythe Trophy winner, won his third consecutive decision for Carolina, which is 15-10-4 at home.

"I felt sharp and the guys played extremely well in front of me," Ward said. "Anytime you only allow 10 shots after two periods, that's saying something about the team defense. I tried to stay sharp and ready for any chances they might get."

"Cam was the same old Cam," Whitney said. "When he plays at his best or close to his best, we usually win. Tonight was no exception. We need Cam to be at his best for the stretch run. That's a lot of pressure to put on one guy but he seemed to handle it well last year."

Burke, who played with the Hurricanes' franchise from 1992-1998, stopped 27 shots for Los Angeles, which went 2-1-2 on its five-game road swing.

"It would have nice to win to end it or get a point," Burke said. "We did some nice things and now we've got to go home and continue."

"We didn't play with any sense of urgency until the third period," Kings coach Marc Crawford said. "When the game was up for grabs and we tied it up, that should have been our cue to start playing with a lot more urgency. Our goalie had kept us in. We withstood the best of their game."