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Wednesday, Mar. 29 7:30pm ET
Carolina still fighting for playoff spot | |||||
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BOX SCORE
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- The Carolina Hurricanes used their one game between meetings with the Buffalo Sabres wisely. The Hurricanes put themselves back into the hunt with Buffalo and Montreal for the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff spot with a 3-1 win Wednesday over the Nashville Predators. Carolina lost 5-1 on Monday to the Sabres and will play at Buffalo on Friday. "The test that we failed Monday we have an opportunity to pass Friday," Carolina coach Paul Maurice said. "I know (tonight) was a must-win game. I think the boys felt confident in what they needed to do." Marek Malik, Ron Francis and Andrei Kovalenko each scored and Arturs Irbe, who gave up five goals in Monday's loss, stopped 26 shots as he notched his 30th win. Nashville's Cliff Ronning stopped Irbe's bid for his fifth shutout of the season with his 25th goal with 2:19 left. Irbe is the franchise's first goalie to reach the mark since Mike Liut had 31 wins 13 years ago. "All that mattered was a 'W' tonight," Irbe said. "We'll take it any way we can." Because the Predators have lost 31 games after their opponents score first, Malik knew his goal at 2:57 in the first period was crucial. "It was pretty nice, especially for out team because it was early in the game," said Malik, who had not scored since Jan. 24, a 16-game span. Malik's fourth goal, set up by Jeff Daniels and Paul Ranheim, came from the left corner behind the goal line, grazed the right skate of goalie Mike Dunham and slipped past the post. Francis scored his 23rd goal at 10:50 of the first period to make it 2-0. Jeff O'Neill redirected a pass from Gary Roberts from the right side, and Francis fired it past Dunham as he crossed in front of the net. Kovalenko sealed Carolina's win with his 15th goal at 14:28 of the third. "I think the upside to tonight is that we did what we needed without extending a lot of energy to do it," Maurice said. "I was giving everybody an opportunity to have a stake in the season." Carolina's all-star forward Sami Kapanen, tied for second on the team with 23 goals, was scratched and will likely miss Friday's key game as he recovers from concussion symptoms. Team officials aren't sure when Kapanen was injured, but decided to keep him out for precautionary reasons. The Predators are one win shy of matching last year's win total of 28 set in their inaugural season. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Nashville Clubhouse Carolina Clubhouse RECAPS Dallas 4 Florida 1
Carolina 3 AUDIO/VIDEO   Andrei Kovalenko seals the win for Carolina with this slap shot.avi: 828 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1   | |||||