Hurricanes rally to beat Canadiens

Carolina's Samsonov scores his first goal of the season

RALEIGH -- Ray Whitney had the winning goal and Sergei Samsonov scored his first goal of the season. For the Carolina Hurricanes, those were the big talking points Tuesday night after a 2-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.

The Canes, trailing 1-0 after two periods, tied the score on Samsonov's shot from the slot at 3:06 of the third, then took the lead on Whitney's power-play goal at 6:33. But close games more often than not are decided on close plays.

For the Hurricanes and the Canadiens, one came just after Whitney's score. Montreal's Andrei Kostitsyn powered a shot that hit the post, and the puck settled near the goal line behind Canes goalie Cam Ward.

Ward, sharp in goal all night, had his eye on the puck. But defenseman Dennis Seidenberg alertly swept in to collect it and clear it out.

"They've got some skilled guys and [Kostitsyn] made something out of nothing and put a good shot on the post," Ward said. "I'd like to think I was in good position, and I turned my head and 'Seids' [Seidenberg] was already there, so there was no panic.

"We were able to get it out and act like nothing happened."

When Carolina was losing three in a row and four of five, what everything bad seemed to happen to the Canes, the puck might have bounced toward the net and Seidenberg not quite in position to get a stick on it. But Carolina (10-7-2) now has back-to-back comeback wins after rallying against the Tampa Bay Lightning and winning a shootout on Sunday.

"If you look at the last few games, I think we're just building a little bit on each game," Canes coach Peter Laviolette said. "If you go back to the loss in Atlanta [on Friday] and the next game and the next game, I think we're doing the right things and getting a little better."

The Canes had plenty of early jump against the Habs (10-5-2), who edged Carolina in a shootout last month in Montreal. The Hurricanes, establishing a physical forecheck, had 18 shots in the first period and a season-high 48 in the game, topping their 46 against Tampa Bay in the second game.

"We played a great first period, probably our best period so far," Canes forward Tuomo Ruutu said. "I think that kind of set the tone.

"The second period was hard, we had so many penalties, but we kept going in the third."

The Canadiens, 0-for-20 on the power play the last four games, broke through early in the second on Robert Lang's goal. The Canes then had to kill off five more penalties in the period.

"We were down a goal on the scoreboard, but I liked what we were doing," Laviolette said. "I wish we weren't going to the [penalty] box, but the penalty kill executed pretty well with the exception of the one goal."

Habs goalie Carey Price had 28 saves in the first two periods and stymied the Hurricanes. But Samsonov finally fired a shot past him -- the veteran forward's first goal of the season.

"I knew it was going to come and everybody in this locker room knew it was going to come," Ruutu said, smiling.

After an interference penalty against Montreal's Ryan O'Byrne at 5:36, the Canes took the lead when Seidenberg whistled in a shot from the point, Scott Walker kept the puck alive in front of Price and Whitney slapped it in for his fifth goal of the season.

"We had a lot of energy, especially in the first period," Whitney said. "Not just our forwards. Our 'D' [guys] were in on the offense as well.

"The last two games we've come out very prepared and energetic."

And came back and won. Again.

"We did all the little things right, just as we did against Tampa" Seidenberg said. "That's the reason we won."