Hurricanes make playoffs with OT win
RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) - Anton Babchuk's overtime goal clinched a playoff spot for the Carolina Hurricanes as they defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 for their eighth consecutive victory on Saturday.
Babchuk slapped the puck past Penguins netminder Marc-Andre Fleury just over a minute into the extra session, sending the Hurricanes into the playoffs for the first time since 2006, the year they won the Stanley Cup.
"All of the sudden (Tim) Gleason gave me a nice flip pass and I just tried to shoot it through the guys in front of the net," Babchuk told reporters.
Carolina goaltender Cam Ward made 33 saves, including a breakaway by Sidney Crosby and a third-period penalty shot by Evgeni Malkin, as the Hurricanes improved to 12-1-2 in their past 15 games.
"He (Ward) kept it going with a huge night," said Eric Staal, who scored Carolina's first goal. "Those were some huge saves against some of the toughest scorers in the league."
The victory, their 11th successive at home, puts Carolina (44-28-7) a spot behind fourth-placed Philadelphia (42-25-11), with both teams tied on 95 points in the tight Eastern Conference race. Pittsburgh (42-27-9) are two points behind in sixth.
A team meeting in February might have helped turn the team around, captain Rod Brind'Amour said.
"We kind of said, 'Let's start our playoffs now,'" Brind'Amour said. "You don't want to put too much weight in that but we seemed to kind of bear down from then on."
Chad LaRose provided Carolina's other goal and Ray Whitney contributed two assists, including the second on Babchuk's game-winner, boosting his season total to 49.
Tyler Kennedy and Jordan Staal had Pittsburgh's goals.
Kennedy gave visiting Pittsburgh the early lead on a backhanded shot 5:49 into the game.
Carolina netted the next two on Staal's wrist shot 13:25 into the first and LaRose's goal just 57 seconds into the second period.
Pittsburgh's Jordan Staal, Eric's brother, leveled the score at 2-2, 3:34 into in the third.
(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Salvo, North Carolina; Editing by Ian Ransom and Peter Rutherford; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)
