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Saturday, Jan. 22 1:30pm ET
'Canes end five-game losing streak | |||||
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BOX SCORE
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- In tough times, hockey teams often lean on their captain. Ron Francis provided more than the intangibles Saturday, scoring the game's first goal and assisting on the second as the Carolina Hurricanes snapped their season-worst five-game losing streak with a 4-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres. "That's the difference between very good players and guys who will be in the Hall of Fame," Carolina coach Paul Maurice said of Francis. "Regardless of how tired they are or how frustrated they are with the situation surrounding them, they come out and play their best when you need them to," Francis and Sami Kapanen scored power play goals 1:31 apart in the second period to help Carolina snap its worst skid since losing the final five games of the 1997-98 season. The victory in front of 16,345 -- the second largest home crowd of the season -- inched Carolina one point in front of Buffalo, which fell to 1-4-1 in its last six games. "This goes a long way," Maurice said of the win. "We feel like we're back in the (playoff) fight again." A pair of Gary Roberts goals midway through the third period sealed it for Carolina. It was Roberts' first multi-goal game since netting two against Toronto more than a year ago. "This is one of these games where everybody goes home feeling good about contributing and now we just have to continue this way," said Roberts. Michael Peca's goal with 1:18 left broke up Arturs Irbe's shutout. There was little offense between the two teams in the first 30 minutes, but Carolina broke out of its 3-for-26 slump with the man-advantage in the latter stages of the second period to take control. Roberts' second goal was also on the power play, giving Carolina three man-advantage goals in a game for the first time since a 4-2 victory at St. Louis on Dec. 7. Buffalo, returning from a three-game West Coast trip, fell to 1-20-1 when trailing after two periods. "I thought we had hit rock bottom before the trip, but if you look at the end of the road trip we took another layer off of rock bottom," said Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff. Francis scored his 13th of the season from a sharp angle with six seconds left on Erik Rasmusen's boarding penalty, slipping the puck under the stick and pads of Buffalo's Martin Biron. A minute later, Rhett Warrener went off for hooking and the Hurricanes struck again, this time Francis whipping a pass from behind the net to a wide open Kapanen in the slot. His high backhander beat Biron for his team-leading 18th of the season. Andrei Kovalenko assisted on Carolina's first two goals. The Francis goal came on Carolina's seventh shot in a close-checking game between two teams battling a group of six for the final three playoff spots in the Eastern Conference. "Our leaders were our best players," Jeff O'Neill said of Francis and Roberts. "That's why they get paid what they do, and when it comes down to it those are the guys who are going to bring you out of a slump." The Hurricanes had expected the return of defenseman Sean Hill, the team's top scorer on defense. But Hill missed his 14th straight game with a nagging groin injury. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Buffalo Clubhouse Carolina Clubhouse RECAPS Carolina 4 Buffalo 1 AUDIO/VIDEO   Sami Kapanen get the feed from Paul Coffey.avi: 708 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1   | |||||