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Whitney, Hurricanes' power play help topple Penguins

Feb 15, 2008 - 5:07 AM RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Ray Whitney and the Carolina Hurricanes used the power play to their advantage.

Whitney scored a key power-play goal and set up two others as the Hurricanes posted a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday.

Erik Cole and Eric Staal also netted man-advantage goals and Ryan Bayda added an insurance tally midway through the third period for Carolina, which has won four straight home meetings with Pittsburgh.

The Hurricanes also vaulted back into sole possesion of first place in the Southeast Division after entering this contest tied with the idle Atlanta Thrashers and Washington Capitals.

"It was an important win," Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette said. "But to be honest, the next one is just as important. We need to win a lot. We can't afford .500 hockey. Our intention has to be to win every game from here on out. That's what we have to do to make the playoffs."

The game saw three players leave with injuries, including Carolina captain Rod Brind'Amour, who likely is done for the season.

Brind'Amour was injured less than two minutes into the contest, when he was crunched between Pittsburgh's Georges Laraque and Nathan Smith near the boards in the neutral zone. After the game, it was announced that the veteran center sustained a torn ACL in his left knee.

Entering the game as the Hurricanes' scoring leader with 51 points, Brind'Amour will undergo reconstructive surgery Friday and be sidelined four to six months.

Pittsburgh's Kris Beech injured his right wrist when he crashed into the boards after being checked by Carolina defenseman Glen Wesley, while teammate Jeff Taffe suffered a broken nose.

"We're missing a lot of players, and down the road, it will eventually catch up with us," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. "I think the last two games have been tough. We just have to regroup. We lost two (players) tonight. I don't know, I hope that's enough."

Carolina, which had not scored a power-play goal in its previous five games, looked to Whitney to snap a 2-2 tie.

Less than four minutes into the third, Whitney wristed a shot from the slot past goaltender Dany Sabourin for his 22nd of the season and a one-goal lead.

"The key to the power play was just simplicity," Whitney said. "Instead of making things hard on ourselves, tonight we just got the puck and shot it on goal with some of our powerful guys in front of the net."

Carolina maintained the slim margin until Bayda doubled it with 8:21 remaining.

On a rush, Bayda blasted the puck past the glove of Sabourin from the high slot to make it 4-2. It was Bayda's first goal of the season and ninth of his four-year career.

Cole opened the scoring for Carolina when he redirected Whitney's power-play shot from the left wing past Sabourin 3:13 into the game.

Defenseman Brooks Orpik, who had not scored in 180 games, tied it with seven minutes left in the first. But it again proved to be a bad omen for Pittsburgh, which has lost each of the last four games in which the blue-liner tallied.

"That's why I don't do it," Orpik said.

Pittsburgh took a 2-1 lead at 2:37 of the second. All-Star Evgeni Malkin scored with the man advantage when the puck hit the stick of Hurricanes defenseman Frantisek Kaberle and skipped past netminder Cam Ward.

It was Malkin's 33rd goal of the season and 10th in 12 games since captain Sidney Crosby was injured.

However, Staal evened the contest when he swept a rebound by Sabourin during a man advantage with 9:24 left in the middle period.

"Obviously, we've been not doing too well with a man advantage the last few games, so it was nice to chip in a few goals," Staal said. "It's a big win, and we need to build off of it."

Overall, the Hurricanes were 3-for-5 on the power play.

"You've got to give credit to the Hurricanes," Therrien said. "They took some quality shots, got second scoring chances on rebounds and were tough to play against tonight."

Ward stopped 20 shots for Carolina, which had dropped its previous two meetings with Pittsburgh.

"We know that in order to be successful, we need to be good on our special teams, and it's definitely a relief to see some power-play goals," Ward said. "We just stuck with the program through and through the whole entire lineup."

Sabourin made 42 saves for the Penguins, who have lost four of five on the road.

"Carolina kept it simple with traffic in front," Sabourin said. "I had a tough time against them."