Ladd's promotion nets dividends

Samsonov gets winner vs. former team

BOSTON -- It wasn't the new guy who made the big splash for the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday. It was the guy who filled the spot left open by Monday's trade.

While Joe Corvo's arrival was the big story going into the game, of less note was Andrew Ladd's promotion to one of Carolina's top two lines to replace the departed Cory Stillman.

Corvo got an assist in his Carolina debut, but Ladd scored twice in the first seven minutes of a 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins, a day after the Canes traded Stillman and Mike Commodore to the Ottawa Senators for Corvo and Patrick Eaves.

Sergei Samsonov had the game-winning goal and an assist against his former team, and Cam Ward rallied to lock down the win after giving up two goals to Shawn Thornton -- his first points in 32 games this season -- in less than 30 seconds with five minutes to play.

Ward has stopped 51 of the 53 shots he has faced in Boston this season, and he's happy with that despite what happened late.

"I still am," Ward said. "Obviously we don't want to make it that interesting late in the game, but at the end of the day we got two points, and that's what matters to our hockey team."

With Ray Whitney moving into Stillman's old spot with Eric Staal and Erik Cole, Ladd moved up to play with Rod Brind'Amour and Samsonov. The fit was apparent.

"I've got pretty good chemistry with Rod and adding Ladder on our line, that's just that much more ice for us," Samsonov said. "He's got a quick release, and he's a big, strong guy. He creates room for both of us."

The reshuffling paid dividends on their second shift when Brind'Amour cut between two Bruins on the left wing and the puck ended up on Ladd's stick for a nasty top-shelf one-timer.

Ladd made it 2-0 by deflecting a Brind'Amour pass off Alex Auld's stick and into the net with his right skate. Samsonov added his late in the second period, skating nearly the length of the ice before feeding Frantisek Kaberle and scoring on Kaberle's rebound.

"Those are two great players and when Sammy can wheel like he did on that third one, I can go to the net and create havoc," Ladd said. "I think it works pretty well."

Ladd's second goal prompted Boston fans to chant for a goalie change. Carolina fans have been asking for a change on defense since the team began struggling in mid-November, and the Canes hope Corvo is the answer.

With a power play that went into Tuesday 1-for-30 and outscored 2-1 by the opposition's penalty-killers since it scored its last five-on-four goal, the Canes clearly needed help in that department.

And with the player the Canes were previously paying to be their offensive leader on defense, Frantisek Kaberle, recording his second point in the past 17 games Tuesday and 12th of the season, the Canes clearly needed help in that department, too.

Corvo immediately stepped in as Carolina's eighth-leading scorer, tops among defensemen by 15 points, and straight onto the point on the Canes' first power-play unit, playing alongside Staal.

"It was good," Corvo said. "I didn't feel totally comfortable out there. That just comes with a couple [of] games. But in the third I started to feel pretty relaxed, just playing."

Carolina's power play went 0-for-2 on Tuesday, and Corvo's assist -- he tapped the puck to Samsonov in front of the Carolina net to start the darting rush that ended when Samsonov scored -- wasn't exactly the kind of pinpoint pass the Canes expect from Corvo.

"He moved the puck, he jumped into it," Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette said. "We're going to go home and spend some time on the power play, but I thought overall he played a pretty good game. He brings that shot, he brings the skating -- you could see it got him out of trouble quite a few times out there -- and it was good."