Corvo smokes old team
Joe Corvo took the questions in stride, mostly because he surely expected them.
Yes, this game meant more because it came against his old team. Yes, he mentally marked this game weeks ago. No, he holds no grudge against anyone for the trade that sent him from Ottawa to Carolina.
And the fact that his first NHL hat trick came in the first game against the Senators, the Hurricanes’ 5-1 win Sunday at Raleigh, N.C.?
“What can you say?” Corvo said. “If I got to write a storybook ending, this would be it.”
Two of his goals came on the power play and goalie Cam Ward needed to stop only 16 shots as the Hurricanes bounced back from their worst loss of the season, a 7-1 loss Friday to Buffalo.
Patrick Eaves, sent to Carolina along with Corvo in that Feb. 11 trade, also enjoyed the reunion, getting his first goal since then to help the Hurricanes improve to 13-4-1 in their past 18 games. That stretch includes an 11-1-1 run at the friendly confines of the RBC Center, where they will play four more games this season.
“Anytime you get traded, your world kind of gets turned upside down,” Eaves said. “It’s hard for you not to come out and want to play your best.”
Blue Jackets 4, Red Wings 3: At Columbus, Ohio, Manny Malhotra had two goals and a career-high three points, and the Blue Jackets held off Detroit to set a franchise record with 75 points.
Capitals 2, Bruins 1 (SO): At Washington, Alexander Semin and Viktor Kozlov scored shootout goals and the Capitals beat Boston. Semin opened the shootout with a shot into the upper right corner of the net past Alex Auld, and Kozlov clinched the win with a drive into the bottom left corner.
Flames 4, Blackhawks 2: At Chicago, Jarome Iginla, Kristian Huselius and Dion Phaneuf scored second-period goals, and Miikka Kiprusoff made 34 saves in Calgary’s victory over the Blackhawks.
Penguins 7, Flyers 1: At Pittsburgh, Evgeni Malkin and Petr Sykora each had two goals and two assists, and the Penguins beat slumping Philadelphia.
Sykora set up both of Malkin’s goals, and the Penguins scored seven for the second successive game to win their fifth in six games.
Panthers 3, Thrashers 1: At Sunrise, Fla., Olli Jokinen and Rostislav Olesz scored power-play goals and Florida tied a franchise record with its seventh consecutive victory in beating Atlanta.
Oilers 2, Sharks 1 (SO): At San Jose, Calif., Dwayne Roloson made 48 saves and stopped three more shots in the shootout, carrying Edmonton to a win and snapping the Sharks’ 11-game winning streak.
Ales Hemsky scored in regulation and Fernando Pisani got the decisive shootout goal for the Oilers, who won for the fifth time in six games.