Raleigh, NC (Sports Network) - Eric Staal, Kevyn Adams and Erik Cole scored
the fastest three goals in franchise history, tallying 43 seconds apart in the
first period, as Carolina topped the Tampa Bay Lightning, 6-4, at the RBC
Center.
Staal, one night short of his 22nd birthday, scored twice and added an assist.
Scott Walker had two goals and Rod Brind'Amour finished with three assists for
the Hurricanes, who split the home-and-home set after falling, 5-1, at Tampa
Thursday night.
Cam Ward stopped 19 shots for Carolina, which beat Tampa Bay for the second
time in three matchups this season. The defending Stanley Cup champions
had lost three of four overall entering Saturday, but scored three times on 13
shots in the opening period to take an early advantage.
"I thought we played a really strong game," Hurricanes head coach Peter
Laviolette said. "Defensively, we let in four goals, but I think we were
better than that defensively. They just caught us on the end of a couple of
power plays and some tough bounces. We were good defensively, we tried to play
tight and aggressive. That's the style that we need to play."
Vinny Prospal and Vincent Lecavalier each had a goal and an assist for the
Lightning, who had a three-game winning streak broken. Marc Denis allowed four
goals on 17 shots before being replaced in the second period by Johan
Holmqvist, who ended with 10 saves.
"I thought our power play was better after the first period," Lightning head
coach John Tortorella said. "I thought a lot of things in our game was better.
So we'll take the good things out of it and we certainly don't have too much
time to worry about this one because we have a game tomorrow."
Prospal scored 5:48 into the game, but the Hurricanes posted three goals
quickly on Denis. Staal's came on the power play on a wrister from the right
circle at 8:23. Just nine seconds later, Dan Boyle turned the puck over in his
own zone. Denis saved Craig Adams' shot from the bottom of the left circle,
but Kevyn Adams poked in the rebound.
Cole then scored at 9:06 on a tip in from in front after a pass from Ray
Whitney.
Staal made it 4-1 at 5:14 of the second with another power play goal. He
flipped the puck from the right side of the net off the skate of Tampa Bay
defenseman Paul Ranger and then past Denis, who was promptly replaced by
Holmqvist.
The Lightning got within 4-3 as Ruslan Fedotenko and Lecavalier scored just
over four minutes apart later in the second. Fedotenko notched the 100th goal
of his career on a tip-in from the slot, while Lecavalier tallied on the power
play at 16:41.
However, Walker had two straight goals, at 17:34 of the second and 55 seconds
into the third. His first came on a shot from the right circle, and the latter
was a rebound in front.
Martin St. Louis scored midway through the third period for the final margin.
