• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

LaRose scores twice as Hurricanes hold off Islanders

Oct 26, 2008 - 6:26 AM UNIONDALE, New York (Ticker) -- Chad LaRose scored a pair of goals as the Carolina Hurricanes staved off a comeback attempt to post a 4-3 triumph over the New York Islanders on Saturday.

Captain Rod Brind'Amour and Eric Staal also tallied and Cam Ward made a franchise-record 57 saves for the Hurricanes, who lost rookie center Brandon Sutter to injury midway through the third period.

Defenseman Freddy Meyer notched a goal and an assist while Sean Bergenheim and blue-liner Mark Streit also tallied for New York, which has lost three in a row.

"We gave ourselves a chance to win tonight," Islanders captain Bill Guerin said. "That's the biggest difference from last game. It's a loss and it's unacceptable, but the effort was better."

Doug Weight had a chance to send the game to overtime, as he was awarded a penalty shot with seven-tenths of a second remaining in the third period when Carolina defenseman Tim Gleason gloved the puck while in the crease.

"There was a scrum in front of the net and the puck was loose," Gleason said. "I didn't have a stick and I tried to swipe at it. I think as soon as you put your glove on it, it's a penalty shot. I wasn't thinking penalty shot, I was thinking, get the puck out of in front of the net."

But the veteran Weight, who forced Sutter from the game with a crushing check at center ice, was denied by Ward.

"With the ice conditions, I needed to do something where I could deke and put it on the ice, which in this day and age is pretty tough to do," Weight said. "(Ward) was out 10 to 12 feet. I made my decision, I tried to put it high glove (side), but he made the save.

"I had to make the perfect shot. I knew that going in. No excuse. He made a better save than I made a shot. He played it well."

Ward was familiar with Weight, considering they were teammates on Carolina's Stanley Cup championship team in 2006.

"He obviously is a gifted player," Ward said. "I thought he was going to try the five-hole, but I try not to overanalyze it. I was just in good position to make the save."

Rick DiPietro allowed two goals on 12 shots in the first period before being replaced by Joey MacDonald, who made 14 saves over the final two sessions. DiPietro left the game with an undisclosed injury.

"He's day to day," New York coach Scott Gordon said. "That's it. I hate to be the bearer of bad news. I've been told our policy is that we can't talk about injuries, and that's what I'm stuck with. All I can tell you is it wasn't his performance."

The 60 shots on goal by the Islanders are a new franchise record.

"They did a lot of the things we talked about since training camp," Gordon said. "It was good to see them get some success on the shot clock."

"They did a real good job of shooting everything when they were in the zone," Ward said. "That was what their main objective was - put the puck on net and try to fight for rebounds. Anytime a team does that, there will be a lot of shots."

The Islanders went just 1-for-8 on the power play, but Gordon was not about to get upset with his team's futility with the extra skater.

"I thought we generated some tremendous chances," he said. "Realistically, your power play is going to fail 80 percent of the time. And that's (if you have) a good power play."

Carolina opened the scoring at 3:43 thanks to a miscue by DiPietro.

After making a save on a long shot by Staal, the netminder attempted to lift the puck out of the zone. But LaRose gloved it out of mid-air just inside the blue line and carried down the right side before firing it inside the left goalpost for his first tally of the season.

"Coach said to try and take away the middle when DiPietro gets it," LaRose said. "He plays the puck really well. He shot it right at me, and once I got it, he left the far side open."

Brind'Amour doubled the lead at 8:49, burying a rebound in front, but Meyer beat Ward with a rising wrist shot from the high slot at 3:56 of the middle period to get the Islanders back within one. However, the defenseman made an ill-advised backhand pass across the slot in his own zone that was intercepted by Staal, who converted with 9:09 to go for a 3-1 advantage.

Bergenheim finished a 2-on-1 shorthanded rush with Meyer at 5:45 of the third to cut the deficit to one, but LaRose completed his third career multi-goal performance at 7:11 to make it 4-2.

"Sutter made a nice play," LaRose said, referring to the pass he received. "I was calling for it and he threw it back to me."

Streit closed the gap with 9:26 remaining with a one-timer from the top of the right faceoff circle.