Odd line pays off for Canes

The Canes' makeshift combination of LaRose, Ruutu and Helminen produced on Sunday

RALEIGH -- Hockey coaches think long and hard about putting together their lines, mixing and matching centers and wingers to get just the right fit.

Then there are times when success comes as much by circumstance as strategy.

So it was Sunday for the Carolina Hurricanes against the Toronto Maples Leafs, when the Canes' Tuomo Ruutu suddenly found himself on the ice late in the second period with Chad LaRose and rookie Dwight Helminen.

Call it an unlikely combination, but by game's end, Ruutu, Helminen and LaRose each had a goal and an assist. The Canes would have a 6-4 victory after trailing 3-1 in the second period.

"The Ruutu-Helminen-LaRose line got put together more by chance," Canes coach Peter Laviolette said Monday. "It was coming off a power play, and all my power-play guys were tired."

The Hurricanes had back-to-back power plays, including 30 seconds of a 5-on-3. They didn't score with the two-man advantage, but Ray Whitney soon banged in a goal to make it 3-2.

Then, Laviolette had a decision to make. Whitney, Eric Staal and Rod Brind'Amour were coming off the ice. Forward Patrick Eaves had left the game with an undisclosed illness, and Laviolette's options were few.

"Staalsy had taken a monster shift, and we just wanted to get some fresh bodies out on the ice to make sure we had a good jump," Laviolette said. "Following up a goal, you don't want to give anything right back. You want good, fresh bodies on the ice.

"There weren't a lot of people left on the bench that had good energy. I threw those three guys out there. They went out, they kept it in [the Toronto zone] right away, and they scored a goal."

Helminen, as he was falling, chipped the puck past Leafs goalie Curtis Joseph for his first NHL goal. Just like that, the score was tied 3-3.

"I said, 'Wow, that worked pretty good,' " Laviolette said. "So we put them back out there."

And Ruutu scored, skating behind the net with the puck, then spinning and firing a shot from a tough angle to the right of the net -- the puck zipping past Joseph and just under the crossbar.

"I was really looking for a top shelf," Ruutu said of the shot, smiling. "No, I just shot it in there, and I was lucky to get one."

With 30 seconds left in the second period, the Canes had a 4-3 lead, having scored three times in three minutes and 20 seconds.

"So we said, 'We'll run with it in the third period,' " Laviolette said.

And the line scored again. Early in the third, defenseman Niclas Wallin blasted a long shot. Helminen and LaRose both were in front of the net, crowding Joseph, and LaRose scored.

The goal, at 1:15 of the third, made it 5-3 and proved to be the game-winner, although the Leafs did make it a tense 5-4 game later in the third.

"So we said, 'We'll just run with this the rest of the game,' " Laviolette said.

Helminen, playing in his fourth NHL game, said there was nothing complicated about his line's play. It was just a matter of making simple plays, he said, getting pucks to the net and making things claustrophobic for Joseph.

"That's where we generated our chances -- down low," Helminen said. "We were feeding off each other. We were on the pucks and really going at 'em.

"I thought we matched really well. All three of us were skating well ... and just working hard."

As for tonight's game in Toronto against the Leafs, Laviolette said he wasn't sure what he would do about the lines. Center Matt Cullen could miss another game with a groin injury, but Eaves could return.

It could be another dose of Ruutu, LaRose and Helminen.

"Obviously, it had some chemistry," Laviolette said of the line. "No question, they generated a lot of chances. They were buzzing off each other, so we'll see.

"They feed off each other well, they did get the pucks to the net, they got their noses in there. It was a good combination."

Something to think long and hard about.