With Emotions High, Rangers Lose to Carolina

RALEIGH, N.C. — Rod Brind'Amour and Sergei Samsonov scored in the second period, and Trevor Letowski added an insurance goal in the third to give the Carolina Hurricanes a 3–1 win over the Rangers last night.

Cam Ward made 34 saves for the Southeast Division-leading Hurricanes, who have won three of four.

Brendan Shanahan scored for the Rangers. Goalie Henrik Lundqvist stopped 24 shots.

New York had won two in a row before the All-Star break.

The first period featured 66 minutes in penalties.

Carolina's Scott Walker and New York's Sean Avery received roughing minors before the puck dropped. The Rangers' Colton Orr and the Hurricanes' Wade Brookbank fought shortly thereafter.

The physical play boiled over when Walker drove New York's Scott Gomez into the boards a little over 4 minutes into the game. Avery came after Walker, which started a melee that entangled all 10 players on the ice. Carolina defenseman Tim Gleason was ejected because he was the third man in on the Avery-Walker scrum. Avery received a 10-minute misconduct.

Later in the period, Brookbank and Orr dropped the gloves for a second time.

The rough stuff between the teams wasn't a complete surprise. In a game in New York on December 26, Orr leveled Carolina's Matt Cullen with a hit that left Cullen with a concussion. Avery also punched the Hurricanes' Andrew Ladd while Ladd was being restrained by an official, breaking a bone underneath Ladd's eye in the process.

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SENATORS 5, ISLANDERS 2

Mike Fisher had a goal and assist, and the Ottawa Senators beat the Islanders 5-2 last night.

Andrej Meszaros, Chris Phillips, Dean McAmmond, and Jason Spezza also scored for the Senators, who won for just the third time in eight games. Martin Gerber turned aside 23 shots for his 23rd win this season.

Trailing 3–0 in the third period, Sean Bergenheim and Bryan Berard scored for the Islanders, who are 1–3–1 in their last five games. All-Star goalie Rick DiPietro made 21 saves.

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PENGUINS 4, DEVILS 2

Erik Christensen had a goal and assist during Pittsburgh's three-goal second period, and the injury- and illness-plagued Penguins rallied from a pair of deficits to beat the Devils 4–2 last night.

In the first game for both teams following the All-Star break, the Penguins defeated the Devils for the fifth straight time in New Jersey and they did it without forwards Sidney Crosby (ankle), Colby Armstrong (flu) and Tyler Kennedy (mononucleosis).