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Hurricanes rally in third period, beat Lightning

Nov 24, 2007 - 4:15 AM RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- It took one big period for the Carolina Hurricanes to end a six-game skid against their biggest rival.

Ray Whitney, Justin Williams and defenseman Glen Wesley each scored in the third period as the Hurricanes posted a 4-3 comeback victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday night.

Erik Cole and Cory Stillman both had two assists for Carolina, which had not defeated Tampa Bay since December 16.

"We started to move the puck in their end and whip it at the net," Carolina coach Peter Laviolette said of the final session. "Good things can happen when you put it at the net."

Trailing 3-1, the Hurricanes battled back in the final session. Whitney fired a wrist shot from the right circle that beat Tampa Bay netminder Johan Holmqvist to halve the deficit at the 1:56 mark.

"When you're down two goals, what do you have to lose?" Whitney said. "We knew if we were going to come back, we were going to have to play harder than we did in the first two and start shooting the puck more."

Williams tied the game at 3-3 with his ninth goal of the season when he launched a wrist shot from the slot past Holmqvist on the high stick side.

The Hurricanes took the lead on Wesley's first tally of the season at 8:39 of the final session. Wesley sent a wrist shot from the right point through a screen by Eric Staal and past the outstretched glove of Holmqvist.

"It was a combination of everybody making heads-up decisions and smart plays," Wesley said, giving credit to Staal for setting a screen and Erik Cole for feeding him the pass that led to the score.

Wesley, who was also held without a point through the first 22 games of the campaign, had not scored a goal since February 22.

The Lightning put on a late second-period flurry, scoring two goals in a 2:19 span to take a 3-1 lead over their Southeast Division rival.

"We definitely played better in the second," Lecavalier said. "Our transition game was very good. That's how we got a lot of opportunities. We kind of capitalized on them."

A great play from its top line accounted for Tampa Bay's first tally of the middle session. After executing a give-and-go with Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis made and centering feed to Prospal, who slapped the puck past goaltender Cam Ward with 7:52 remaining.

The goal came just 19 seconds after Tampa Bay coach John Tortorella called his team's timeout to give his line a break after an icing call.

The Lightning doubled their advantage with 5:33 remaining when Lecavalier fended off a defender and unleashed a backhander that deflected off the near-side post and into the net to earn a 3-1 edge.

"Instead of going after them, we kind of stood on our heels," Lecavalier said of the third period. "They got opportunities and they scored. They were on the puck a little bit more."

Carolina got on the scoreboard at 4:53 of the first period when Staal rebounded a Stillman shot and poked the puck past Holmqvist. The goal was the 100th of Staal's NHL career.

Defenseman Paul Ranger tied the game at 1-1 with 5:57 left in the first, notching his fifth goal of the season and 10th career.

Ward finished with 25 saves while Holmqvist stopped 18 shots.