Hurricanes ground Lightning

RALEIGH -- The Carolina Hurricanes finally have another victory in regulation.

Chad LaRose scored his first goal of the season. Defenseman Joni Pitkanen, back in the lineup, was back to eating up minutes, making tape-to-tape passes, taking his own shots.

Manny Legace, while hardly overworked, was steady in goal. Jussi Jokinen had another game-winner, and Tuomo Ruutu continued his recent tear with a goal. The defense was solid.

That about covers it. For the Hurricanes, there was much to like about a 3-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday at the RBC Center that gives Carolina a modest two-game winning streak and points in their last five games.

"We played like we're capable of ," Ruutu said. "We were rolling four lines ... and I thought everybody played well - goalie, defense, the forwards."

An early power-play goal by Ruutu and the score by Jokinen, both in the second period, staked the Hurricanes (5-12-5) to a 2-1 lead. Ruutu scored on the Canes' first power-play chance of the game and Jokinen redirected a shot by defenseman Joe Corvo past goaltender Mike Smith at 13:46 of the period.

The Hurricanes then made it 3-1 with 4:23 left in the third on LaRose's slapshot off the rush. LaRose, who also assisted on Jokinen's goal, scored on a setup pass from Sergei Samsonov, who earned his 300th career assist.

That finished off Carolina's second regulation victory of the season. The other came Oct. 9 against the Florida Panthers, as the Hurricanes' other three wins came in shootouts.

The Lightning (8-5-7), coming back from road games at Phoenix and Anaheim, took a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal by Martin St. Louis in the first period. And the Canes could have been frustrated by not converting any of seven scoring chances in the first.

But early in the second, Brandon Sutter drew an interference penalty on Tampa Bay's Ryan Malone. Pitkanen, who missed the last two games with a lower-body injury, first snatched a clearing attempt out of the air and passed the puck to Ray Whitney, who made a crisp circle-to-circle pass to Ruutu for the one-timer at 2:35.

The Canes then pushed in front when Corvo unloaded from the top of the right circle and Jokinen, positioned in front of defenseman Victor Hedman, got his stick on the puck.

Legace had 20 saves -- St. Louis beat him with a tight-angle shot - and gave up few rebounds that the Lightning could pounce on. When he needed help, an Andrew Alberts or Niclas Wallin or Corvo was there to clean things up.

"We played well," Corvo said. "I think as defensemen we let Manny see the shots, and the ones he's going to see he's usually going to stop."

Legace gloved a high bullet by Todd Fedoruk midway the second that denied the Lightning a goal. Alberts, who had lost the puck to Fedoruk near the blue line, later saved another goal by clearing the puck out of the crease.

"The boys just played phenomenal in front of me all night," Legace said. "They're a scary team to play against. They're so talented. They move the puck so well from left to right and find guys on the back door.

"Just the way our 'D' and everybody played, the forwards coming back hard and taking away the opportunities, it was just a great team effort."

Legace smiled, adding, "I had a good front-row seat tonight. It was beautiful to watch these guys perform."

For 60 minutes. And win.