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Staal, Whitney fuel Hurricanes past Capitals

Dec 8, 2008 - 2:17 AM RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Eric Staal scored to snap a tie with just over four minutes remaining in the third period as the Carolina Hurricanes snapped a three-game losing streak with a 3-1 triumph over the Washington Capitals on Sunday in a battle of Southeast Division rivals.

Ray Whitney tallied twice and Michael Leighton finished with 38 saves and denied defending Hart Trophy winner Alex Ovechkin on a penalty shot for Carolina, which was 0-2-1 in its previous three games.

"I just explained to (Leighton) exactly how this game was going to go tonight," Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice said. "They were going to come and he was going to have to be the difference in the game.

"The upside would be that if he could do that for us, we would look at it as three out of four points and that he was a big, big part of it."

Nicklas Backstrom scored and Jose Theodore turned aside 22 shots for Washington, which saw its modest two-game winning streak come to an end.

With 4:09 remaining in the third and the score tied at 1-1, Staal collected the puck from behind the net and used his wide reach to deposit it past Theodore for his ninth goal of the season.

"They're a couple points ahead of us in our division," Staal said of the Capitals. "You don't want to give them any points. It was a gritty win. I thought we competed extremely hard. We'll take it."

"Tonight we did a better job of not getting too rattled and continuing to go on," Whitney said. "Obviously, it was a huge goal by Eric."

After tallying in the first period, Whitney capped the scoring with 2:02 remaining in the third for his ninth goal of the season.

With his team trailing, 1-0, with 1.2 seconds remaining in the second period, Ovechkin was denied by Leighton on a penalty shot. The goaltender hugged the left goalpost and made a left pad save as the Russian standout fell to 0-for-5 in his career in penalty shots.

"I was just trying not to overthink it," Leighton said. "I've seen what he's done before. I've seen what he's done before - he always tries to do a similar move to what he did.

"He usually tries to get it up. I just tried to come out and make him go that way or make him go the opposite way."

Washington coach Bruce Boudreau is at a loss for words as to why Ovechkin struggles on penalty shots - or how he can him him.

"I have no idea," he said. "I'll be the last one to give him a tip on how to score. All I know is that if it doesn't work, don't do it again. Whatever his thought process is, if it's not working, let's try something new."

Backstrom put Washington on the scoreboard at 8:28 of the third period after converting a 5-on-3 power play. The Swede accepted a cross-slot feed from Ovechkin and unleashed a shot which sailed past Leighton for his eighth goal of the season.

That was all the Capitals could muster against Leighton, who will see an increase in ice time after the Hurricanes placed goaltender Cam Ward on injured reserve Sunday.