PITTSBURGH -- The defending Stanley Cup champion
Carolina Hurricanes clearly have put their poor start behind
them.
Scott Walker tallied twice as the Hurricanes rolled to an easy
5-1 triumph over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
It was the second victory in as many nights for Carolina, which
opened the campaign with four consecutive losses.
The Hurricanes posted a 4-3 win over the Atlanta Thrashers on
Friday thanks to Ray Whitney's last-second goal and carried that
momentum into this contest, jumping out to an early three-goal
lead and cruising thereafter.
Eric Staal gave Carolina the lead for good just 2:24 into the
game with his third goal of the season. The superstar center
gathered a loose puck in the high slot, turned and fired a
wrister that beat goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.
Walker pushed the lead to 2-0 at 9:34 of the opening period with
his first goal of the contest, a bad-angle slap shot from the
bottom of the right faceoff circle that snuck between Fleury's
left skate and the right goalpost.
Walker also tallied seven minutes into the middle session to
extend Carolina's lead to 3-0. Defenseman Mike Commodore
collected a goal and an assist and Whitney added a pair of
assists for the Hurricanes, who provided plenty of support for
netminder Cam Ward.
The reigning Conn Smythe Trophy winner, Ward stopped 25 shots to
improve to 3-1-0 lifetime against the Penguins.
Fleury allowed three goals on 20 shots before being replaced
midway through the second period by Jocelyn Thibault, who turned
aside 12 of the 14 shots he faced. Rookie blue-liner
Kristopher Letang scored the lone goal for Pittsburgh, which
went just 1-for-9 on the power play.