Canes play hard in victory

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The situation was similar for the Carolina Hurricanes.

But this time, not the result.

Leading by a goal entering the third period, the Hurricanes fought past the Anaheim Ducks 3-1 on Sunday night at the Honda Center.

Rod Brind'Amour's goal late in the second period gave the Canes a 2-1 lead. But the Ducks fired shot after shot at goalie Michael Leighton, who was making his second start of the season.

Eric Staal's empty-net goal with 37.6 seconds left finished off a hard-earned victory and two points for the Canes.

The Canes were coming off a hard-to-digest loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Friday at the Staples Center. Trailing 3-2 after two periods, the Kings tied to force overtime and then won, 4-3, costing the Canes a point.

Leighton, the winner against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second game of the season, had an active night against the Ducks. The Canes also were active defensively in front of Leighton.

With 10:37 left, Leighton made a diving save -- literally. After a Ducks flurry in front of the net, the puck stopped inches from the goal line. With Ducks fans roaring and everyone scrambling to get a stick on it, Leighton pounced on the puck for the save.

"We didn't really get a whole lot going," Brind'Amour said. "But our goalie stood on his head. He made the big saves when he had to."

With 4:16 left, the Canes' Sergei Samsonov was called for hooking the Ducks' Chris Kunitz. But Carolina's penalty-kill team stopped the Ducks, with Brandon Sutter making some hustling plays.

"All kills are big, but at that time of the game it was really big," Brind'Amour said.

Brind'Amour scored his third goal of the season with 1:12 left in the second after defenseman Niclas Wallin attempted a big slap shot. Wallin didn't get all of the puck, but it bounced and bounded to the right of the goal, where Brind'Amour gathered it in and backhanded it past Ducks goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

"Roddy had a big goal for us," Leighton said. "Sometimes you win when you're not supposed to."

The Canes grabbed the lead six minutes in as Ryan Bayda scored on an alert pass from Staal. With Staal controlling the puck behind the net, Bayda sneaked in back- door for an easy goal.

The Hurricanes had a number of chances to add to the lead in the first, including 47 seconds of a two-man advantage. But the Ducks killed off three penalties, adding to the Canes' recent power-play woes -- Carolina entered the game scoreless on nine straight power plays and having scored on just two of the past 18.

"It wasn't a pretty win. In the first period, we were solid and came out skating, but we did not capitalize on our chances," Staal said. "In the second period, they put us on our heels.

"Obviously, our goaltending was huge. Goalies can win a game for you."

After the Canes controlled play most of the first period, the Ducks came out firing in the second. Anaheim tied it 1-1 on a blast by defenseman Francois Beauchemin.

Ducks defenseman Nathan McIver gave Canes rookie forward Zach Boychuk a welcome-to-the-NHL shot along the boards in the second period. He later did the same to Dan LaCouture, an NHL veteran who soon dropped the gloves and traded blows with McIver.

The Ducks were threatening the worst start in franchise history (0-4-1 in 2003-2004) before a 4-0 blanking of the San Jose Sharks on Friday. Giguere, who had given up 13 goals in his first three starts, had 38 saves against the Sharks.

The Canes return to Raleigh from the West Coast today but continue their string of six road games Thursday against the Penguins at Pittsburgh. Then it's on to road games against the New York Islanders, Montreal Canadians and St. Louis Blues.