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Saturday, Apr. 8 3:00pm ET
Playoffs still in sight for 'Canes | |||||
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BOX SCORE
ATLANTA (AP) -- Gary Roberts and the Carolina Hurricanes found a way to hold off the expansion Atlanta Thrashers and stave off elimination from the NHL playoffs for at least another day. Roberts had two goals and an assist as the Hurricanes stayed in the hunt for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference with a 4-3 victory over Atlanta on Saturday. "They obviously made it tough for us," said Roberts, who has nine goals in the last 14 games. "It's one of those things where you're playing a team that has nothing to lose, and they want to finish their year off on a good note, too." Carolina (82 points) still must win at home against Atlanta on Sunday and hope Buffalo (84) loses its final game, at Washington on Sunday. With those results, the teams would finish tied on points, but the Hurricanes would qualify for the playoffs by virtue of more wins. The Montreal Canadiens already cooperated for Carolina, losing 3-1 to Ottawa on Saturday night. A Montreal tie or win would have eliminated the Hurricanes. The expansion Thrashers, last in the NHL with 39 points, were 1-17-2 in their final 20 home games. Roberts opened the scoring 24 seconds into the first period, knocking in his own rebound shot from the side of the crease. He added his 23rd goal of the season on a power play with 6:54 left in the second period to give the Hurricanes a 3-2 lead. "This was the game we were most concerned with because of the emotional week we've had," Carolina coach Paul Maurice said. "The four days off -- and when you lose your top two minute guys, (Rod) Brind'Amour and (Sean) Hill -- it's noticeable." Carolina went up 4-2 when Sami Kapanen took Ron Francis' pass from the far right side of the goal line and fired the puck to the glove side of goalie Damian Rhodes at 10:23 of the second period. Following Kapanen's 24th goal and Francis' team-leading 49th assist, Rhodes was replaced by Norm Maracle. Rhodes, who stopped nine of 13 shots, dropped to 5-18-3. Maracle stopped all 14 shots he faced. "We need to regroup over the summer, and I'm sure we'll add some players -- that's the business of the game -- continue to get better, and I believe we will be," Atlanta forward Ray Ferraro said. "The biggest things that I've noticed is we've found a way to score a few more goals, which was killing us earlier." Carolina's Arturs Irbe, who stopped 13 shots in the third period, made two saves in the last minute as he faced six Atlanta skaters -- Dean Sylvester's wrist shot from the center of the slot and Mike Stapleton's slap shot from the top of the left circle. Playing in his NHL-high 74th game, Irbe made 26 saves to improve to 33-28-9. Frantisek Kaberle's first career goal, Atlanta's first short-handed score since Jan. 21, came with 9:08 left in the second period and cut the lead to 4-3. Donald Audette scored his 200th career goal and 18th this season by knocking in a backhanded shot to the left of Irbe at 17:12 of the first period. David Tanabe gave Carolina a 2-0 lead at 11:07 of the first with a wrist shot to Rhodes' stick side. Andrew Brunette made it 2-2 with a power-play at 2:26 of the second period. He has 23 goals this season. "They showed a lot of intensity against us," Francis said. "We knew it would be tough but we live to play another day." | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Carolina Clubhouse Atlanta Clubhouse RECAPS New Jersey 2 Florida 1
Carolina 4 AUDIO/VIDEO   Sami Kapanen scores for Carloinaavi: 632 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1   | |||||