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Ward shines in goal as Hurricanes blank Thrashers

Feb 1, 2009 - 5:12 AM RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- A first-period surge helped the Carolina Hurricanes continue to bounce back from a dismal skid.

Cam Ward made 19 saves and Matt Cullen scored a goal and set up another as the Hurricanes blanked the Atlanta Thrashers, 2-0, on Saturday in battle of Southeast Division rivals.

The 24-year-old Ward turned aside four shots in both the first and third periods, while stopping 11 shots in the second to notch his third shutout of the season and ninth career.

"When you're facing only 19 or 20 shots, that can be tough for a goaltender," Ward said. "But I felt sharp despite not getting much work. We'll take the win and hopefully have some more success on the road."

Ray Whitney also tallied in the first for the Hurricanes, who have won four of their last five after suffering through a season-high five-game losing streak.

"The puck's going in," Cullen said. "We've been on a lot of stretches without it, so it's nice to see it finally go in as these games get bigger and bigger," Cullen said.

Kari Lehtonen stopped 38 shots for the Thrashers, who dropped their fourth straight contest.

"It's the same thing that has happened the last three or four games," Atlanta coach John Anderson said. "We've talked about getting ready. We're so fragile. We have two bad shifts and suddenly we're down.

"We're so worried about our own zone. We don't chase pucks down. We get hemmed in."

Carolina outshot the Thrashers, 21-4, in the first period, when Ward received all the support he would need.

"I thought our team played extremely well," Ward said. "Right from the drop of the puck, we were ready to go. It arguably could be one of our best periods of the year. Those two goals we got ended up prevailing."

Cullen opened the scoring 7:41 into the game after accepting a feed from Chad LaRose and firing a wrist shot from the low slot past Lehtonen.

Whitney doubled the lead with 91 seconds remaining in the session, lifting a backhander into the vacant net from the doorstep.

The Hurricanes held a 40-19 overall margin in shots and jumped into the eighth and final spot in the Eastern Conference playoff picture with 55 points.

"We had great energy and jump," said Carolina coach Paul Maurice, who became the 14th coach in NHL history to have coached 700 games with a franchise.

"We tried to do simple things as fast as we could. Then it was the advantage of playing in Carolina. The crowd was great and they know when you're going. It was our most aggressive best period since we've been here and (the Thrashers were) on their heels. The fans really drove that game."

Atlanta, meanwhile, has scored seven goals during its current slide after totaling 15 in winning the previous three.

"It's pretty disappointing we couldn't get a great game, and we had a pretty bad effort," Thrashers center Bryan Little said. "I'm getting tired of talking about the starts we've been having.

"Each game we say we have to have a good start, and each game we don't. I don't know what it's going to take to get back to playing a full 60 minutes."