Canes' Ladd finds his place

Carolina's power forward is starting to exert his will near the opposing goal

When Andrew Ladd was sent to the minor leagues on Dec. 12, the Carolina Hurricanes hoped he would play extensively and find the groove he had been missing at the NHL level.

As has been the case through most of his three-year career, injuries intervened -- this time a flu bug that cut his scheduled four-game stint in half. But those two games may have been all he needed.

In the two games since Ladd returned to the Hurricanes, he has scored two of his three goals this season -- both by showing a willingness to play in the dangerous ice around the net.

"Obviously the ice time helped," Ladd said of his stint in the minors. "Last game I didn't feel great because I had been sick, but tonight I felt really good out there, and that's something I haven't had in a while. I think the minutes that I played down there really helped."

Saturday, with the Hurricanes still reeling from the news that Justin Williams' knee injury would require surgery and a lengthy recovery, Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette singled out Ladd as the player with the most to gain.

Ladd responded with what Laviolette called his best game of the season in the 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

"Andrew Ladd was awesome," Ray Whitney said.

After the Canes gave up a goal on the first shot of the game, Ladd answered with a gritty goal -- getting his legs taken out by Tampa goalie Karri Ramo as they both dove for a rebound, then diving over Ramo, arms extended, to knock the puck in the net and tie the score 1-1.

"We came back at them and Andrew came up with a huge, huge goal for us," Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward said. "He was all over the place. He was great."

While Ladd's ice time wasn't close to a season-high -- he played just under 11 minutes -- most of that came in the first two periods, before the Canes shortened their bench to protect a 2-1 lead in the third period. He finished plus-1 with a game-high eight hits.

It was the kind of power-forward performance the Canes were expecting from Ladd when they took him fourth overall in 2004, and have gotten in fits and starts.

Too often, injuries have gotten in the way -- this season alone, a twisted ankle that kept him out for more than a month. Now, with Williams out for at least the next four months, Ladd will have many more chances to deliver, starting tonight at the New York Rangers.

"Maybe it just took awhile coming back from that injury, coming back from the sickness," Laviolette said. "He needs to try and harness this and build on it. It was one game and it was a good game and now he needs to build on it."