Moreau’s late surge sinks Carolina
Published 7:52 am Sunday, November 2, 2008
By By Associated Press
RALEIGH — In 88 seconds, Ethan Moreau helped the Edmonton Oilers end two weeks of losing.
Moreau scored two goals in the final 1:28 to give Edmonton a 3-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday and snap the Oilers’ five-game losing streak.
Moreau scored unassisted off the body of goalie Cam Ward to break a 1-all tie, then added an empty-netter.
Before Moreau scored into the empty net, Carolina thought it had tied it with 43.1 seconds left when Eric Staal poked his own rebound toward the net. But replays showed goalie Dwayne Roloson covered the puck before it crossed the goal line.
Roloson made 33 saves for the Oilers. Ward stopped 29 shots for Carolina, and Ray Whitney opened the scoring 6:35 into the first period. He took a long pass from Tim Gleason for his first goal since Oct. 10.
Shawn Horcoff tied it during a power play 6:45 into the second period when Ward deflected his shot but knocked it into the net while sprawled on the ice.
The Hurricanes continued to struggle on the power play. Carolina entered 27th in the NHL with the man advantage, and went 0-for-6 to drop its success rate to 12 percent. The Hurricanes failed on two advantages in the first period, three in the second and one in the third to drop to 6-for-50 on extra-man chances.
Edmonton kept the pressure on, testing Ward repeatedly and breaking through midway through the second period. Horcoff fired from a tough angle on the right side. Ward made the deflection, but was unaware of the puck’s position and knocked it in with his right leg.
Through two periods, Edmonton outshot the Hurricanes 20-19, with several of the Oliers’ best scoring chances created by former Hurricanes stalwart Erik Cole, who was traded in the offseason for defenseman Joni Pitkanen. Twice in the second period, Cole skated in against Ward but was denied.
Notes: Carolina played its first home game since Oct. 13. The Hurricanes went 3-3 on a season-high, six-game road swing, and started a stretch in which they will play 14 of 19 at home. … Edmonton played the second game of a seven-game road trip and will play at Philadelphia on Sunday.