• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Hurricanes topple reeling Ducks

Oct 20, 2008 - 4:42 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Captain Rod Brind'Amour snapped a tie with 72 seconds remaining in the second period as the Carolina Hurricanes recorded a 3-1 triumph over the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday.

Ryan Bayda also tallied, Eric Staal added an empty-net goal and defenseman Niclas Wallin notched two assists for Carolina, which snapped a modest two-game losing streak.

"They had a lot of power up front and on the back end. It was a gutsy effort," said Carolina coach Peter Laviolette, who moved past the late Bob Johnson into second place among American-born coaches with 235 career wins. Former Tampa Bay Lightning coach John Tortorella leads the list with 239 victories.

"There is no question it was a gutsy effort."

Defenseman Francois Beauchemin scored for the second time in as many games and Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 21 saves for Anaheim, which lost for the third time in four contests at the Honda Center. Last season, the Ducks posted a 28-9-4 record, which was the second-best home record in the league.

"Maybe a change of scenery will help us," Anaheim defenseman Scott Niedermayer said. "We've got to work hard and keep a positive attitude. We're in tough right now and not happy with the way things have gone up until now.

Anaheim, which went 0-for-4 on the power play, is 1-for-24 on the season with the man advantage.

"It's not for lack of effort or quality scoring chances," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "We had the territorial advantage a lot of the game, but that is the way the game goes some days. We have to work hard and stay positive. We believe that this group will turn it around."

With the score tied at 1-1, Brind'Amour received the puck at the doorstep and waited out Giguere, who eventually fell to the ice. The captain then neatly tucked the puck past the outstretched netminder for his third goal of the season.

"Our defenseman (Wallin) just tried to put it at the net and it kind of bounced over their defenseman's stick in front and it left me all alone," Brind'Amour said of the goal. "I knew I had a lot of time, so I made like I was going to shoot and he (Giguere) went down, and I was just able to get around him."

"It was kind of a bad bounce," Giguere said. "It wound up on Brind'Amour's stick. ... These things happen. We need to play the whole 60 minutes."

Bayda opened the scoring exactly six minutes into the contest after he accepted a crisp feed and tapped the puck past Giguere for his second tally of the campaign.

Beauchemin leveled the contest with 5:33 remaining in the second period after blasting a shot through traffic and between the pads of Michael Leighton. The goal was the blue-liner's second tally of the season - matching his total from last season.

"The puck was going right into my chest, but it hit our defenseman in the elbow and went in," Leighton said.

Leighton made the slim lead stand up, finishing with 32 saves before Staal capped the scoring with an empty-net tally with 38 seconds remaining in the contest.