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Quick goals by Staal, Ladd give Hurricanes comeback victory

Mar 23, 2007 - 5:08 AM RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Two slumping players came through when the Carolina Hurricanes needed them most.

Eric Staal and Andrew Ladd scored 90 seconds apart early in the third period as the Hurricanes rallied for a critical 4-3 victory over the Washington Capitals.

Defenseman Mike Commodore and Erik Cole also scored for the Hurricanes (37-29-8), who are tied with the Montreal Canadiens (38-31-6) for eighth place in the Eastern Conference, one point behind of the seventh-place New York Rangers (37-28-9).

"We're there," Carolina coach Peter Laviolette said of the playoffs. "We're either there or we're not going to get there. We're playing the game the right way offensively and the chances are coming."

The Hurricanes, who outshot the Capitals, 39-10, trailed by a goal after two periods but stormed back early in the third. Staal snapped an eight-game drought when he jammed a rebound past goaltender Brent Johnson from the doorstep just 22 seconds into the session to forge a 3-3 tie.

"The puck is going to find the back of the net for me hopefully a lot down the stretch and going into the playoffs," Staal said.

"The puck was up in the air and going right in my glove," Johnson said. "(Erik Cole) took me out of the play. I was screaming at the referee because I thought it would be interference."

Ladd, who entered with just one tally in his previous 10 contests, put Carolina ahead at 1:52, firing a shot from the right faceoff dot by Johnson for his ninth of the season.

"He beat me through my arm," Johnson said. "It was one that was tough to save. Still, it is one I'd like to have back."

"We had a lot of chances and it was just a matter of time," Staal said. "We got a couple of nice plays to get ahead in the third period, and it was a nice win."

It was the second game-winning tally for Ladd, who also netted the decisive goal in a 3-0 victory over the Capitals on March 9.

Alex Ovechkin scored twice and captain Chris Clark also tallied for Washington, which has lost 11 of its last 13 games and was officially eliminated from the playoff race.

Ovechkin, who entered without a goal in his previous four contests, gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 11:16 of the first period, beating netminder John Grahame from the bottom of the right faceoff circle.

He capped his eighth multi-goal game of the campaign when he scored from a sharp angle to give the Capitals a 3-2 advantage with just over two minutes left in the second period.

"I feel the same as I felt three days ago," said Ovechkin, who has 43 goals. "Today, I just shot it and got it. So it was nothing special."

Grahame was pulled after allowing three goals on six shots over two periods. Cam Ward came on and stopped all four shots he faced in his first appearance since March 11.

"It was tough," Laviolette said of pulling Grahame. "It wasn't a lot of shots he faced. It wasn't a lot of work for Johnnie, but I wanted to change it up and get Cam into a game and see if it doesn't change the outcome. Again, it was a tough call because Johnnie's played extremely well."