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Walker's OT goal helps Hurricanes widen gap in Southeast

Mar 9, 2008 - 5:27 AM RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Scott Walker's power-play goal 2:50 into overtime helped the Carolina Hurricanes to a 4-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.

Keith Aucoin, defenseman Tim Gleason and Sergei Samsonov also scored for the Hurricanes (37-29-5), who increased their lead in the Southeast Division over the Washington Capitals (32-29-8) to seven points.

"It was a big day," Carolina coach Peter Laviolette said. "We're still in charge of what we do, but you look at the standings and there are three teams that need to do something for it to be a big day - Carolina, Washington and Buffalo. This is the way we wanted it to work out."

Blue-liner Joe Corvo recorded a pair of assists and Cam Ward stopped 27 shots for the Hurricanes, who improved to 7-1-1 in their last nine games. Carolina also extended its winning streak to a season-high four games.

Derek Roy scored a goal and set up another while Drew Stafford and defenseman Toni Lydman also tallied for Buffalo (32-27-10), which fell four points behind Philadelphia (35-26-8) for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Flyers posted a 4-1 win over the New York Islanders on Saturday.

"It was a bad first period for us," Buffalo's Maxim Afinogenov said. "We got a point, but we definitely needed two points."

Buffalo rallied from a 3-1 deficit as Stafford tallied with 1:53 left in the second period and Lydman tied it with exactly 10 minutes remaining in the third.

"It's good that we got a point and we battled back and showed character," Roy said. "But on the other hand, we needed two points out of the night. We can't wait until the last five games of the season to start playing. We've got to do it now."

In overtime, Carolina finally converted on the power play after failing on its first seven opportunities, including two in the final five minutes of regulation.

All-Star Eric Staal, who had a pair of assists, fired a shot from the top of the slot that Walker deflected past screened goaltender Ryan Miller and into the right side of the net for the game-winner.

"We played a lot of power play down the stretch," Laviolette said. "(Walker), I thought he would go to the front of the net, and it worked out well. Walks did a great job."

"I was breathing a little heavy at the end, but we needed to get one on the power play, and I wanted to make sure I was on the ice for it," Staal said.

Samsonov's 12th goal of the season at 8:52 of the second gave the Hurricanes a 3-1 lead. However, Stafford netted his 14th less than 10 minutes later and Lydman knotted the game when he knocked in a rebound midway through the third.

Carolina was the aggressor from the start and took a quick 2-0 lead. Aucoin opened the scoring with 3:25 left in the first with his fifth goal of the season.

"We controlled the first period and came up big in OT," Aucoin said.

It took only 26 seconds for the Hurricanes to double their lead as Gleason blasted a slap shot from the right point that beat a screened Miller with 2:59 left in the opening period.

"We know they like to come out hard in their building," Roy said. "They did so. They got a lot of really good scoring chances, and a few power-play chances, off the bat. We've got to be more ready come the next game and the rest of the season. We can't have that mental lapse in the first period."

Roy halved the deficit with his 27th goal of the season at 7:46 of the second.

Miller stopped 31 shots for the Sabres, who fell to 2-4-2 in their last eight games.