The Carolina Hurricanes rebounded from Saturday night's loss in Florida in a big way as they dominated the Atlanta Thrashers on Sunday night, 4-0 at Philips Arena in Atlanta. The Canes got scoring in each period and solid defense throughout the game as Manny Legace commemorated his fifth straight win with a shutout.
It was Carolina's first shutout of the year.
The Canes got balanced scoring as Brandon Sutter, Joni Pitkanen, Jussi Jokinen, and Rod Brind`Amour each lit the lamp.
The opening period was the opposite of the one in Florida as the Canes out-shot the Thrashers 15-4. Brandon Sutter got the scoring started with a powerplay goal with the help of a great pass from Tuomo Ruutu.
The Thrashers turned up the intensity in the second period and put 14 shots of their own on Manny Legace, but the Carolina goalie was up to the task and made several nice saves.
Later on in the period, Jussi Jokinen returned a favor to countryman Joni Pitkanen and found the defenseman skating alone in front of the net. Pitkanen roofed his shot past goalie Ondrej Pavelec. The blueliner had been skating all around the offensive zone and finally found an opening.
Just two minutes and change into the third period, Rod Brind`Amour knocked in his own rebound on a bang-bang play to make the score 3-0. About three minutes later, Jussi Jokinen tipped in a Brian Pothier shot on another powerplay to put the game away.
The Canes will come home for a short respite, then hit the road again for a game in Washington on Wednesday night.
Game notes:
- With his goal, Brandon Sutter extended his scoring streak to six games.
- Manny Legace faced 27 shots and turned them all aside. It was the goaltender's first shutout since April, 2008.
- The Canes blocked 16 shots this game, led by Tim Gleason with four.
- Carolina out-shot Atlanta 33-27 and were led by Jussi Jokinen who had a team high six.
- Brian Pothier led all skaters with 25:02 of ice time. He also earned his first point as a Hurricane when he assisted on Jokinen's goal.
- Jussi Jokinen now leads the team in total scoring with 53 points. He also has a team high 26 goals. Next closest is Eric Staal with 20 and Ray Whitney with 19. The Finn also leads the team with five game winning goals, has a team best shooting percentage of 20%, and is tied with a team high +4, (except for Brian Pothier).