Cam Ward made 57 saves and Chad LaRose scored twice as the Carolina Hurricanes edged the New York Islanders 4-3 at the Nassau Coliseum Saturday night. The game's outcome was literally in doubt until the final second when Ward stopped Isles' center, Doug Weight on a penalty shot that was awarded with 0.7 seconds left in the game.

Rod Brind'Amour and Eric Staal also scored for the Hurricanes while Freddy Meyer, Sean Bergenheim and Mark Streit scored for New York. The Islanders outshot the Canes 60-28 but Ward's steady play helped Carolina maintain the victory.

Ward was quick to credit his teammates.

"It looked like they [the Islanders] were throwing everything at the net," Ward said. "But it's really not the number of shots that matters -- it's the number of good chances, and I think our defense did a great job in clearing out rebounds so there were very few second chances."

The Hurricanes were very opportunistic, turning Islander mistakes into goals. LaRose's first score came just 3:43 into the game when New York goalie Rick DiPietro tried to clear the zone but hit LaRose who was just inside the blue line. LaRose skated in just below the right faceoff circle and beat the Islander netminder low on the glove side to make it 1-0 Carolina.

"It was a bad play," DiPietro admitted. "I caught the puck and looked up and tried to make a play up the ice. I obviously didn't get it high enough and it's in the back of the net."

Another Isles' mistake led to the Canes' second tally. Brind'Amour won a faceoff in the New York zone and headed straight past opposing center Frans Nielsen to the net. Brind'Amour was easily in position to put home the rebound of a Joe Corvo shot from the right point to make it 2-0 Hurricanes.

The Islanders replaced starting goalie Rick DiPietro after the first period with Joey MacDonald. While Islanders' team policy forbids releasing specifics about injury, both Coach Scott Gordon and DiPietro himself confirmed that DP was not benched and is now listed as "day-to-day" with an unspecified ailment. DiPietro missed the Islanders first four games this season after undergoing hip and knee surgery in the off-season.

"It wasn't his performance, and we'll know more on Monday," Gordon said when asked why he removed his starting goalie from the game. "I've been told that our policy is that we can't talk about injuries, and that's what I'm stuck with."

The Islanders got back into the contest when Andy Hilbert stole a clearing attempt by Tim Gleason and found defenseman Freddy Meyer open at the left point. Meyer sent a wrist shot over the shoulder of Ward to cut the Carolina lead to one less than four minutes into the second period.

The Hurricanes cashed in another New York mistake almost seven minutes later when Eric Staal intercepted a pass by Meyer and beat MacDonald on a breakaway to make it 3-1 Carolina. The score remained 3-1 after two periods.

The Islanders converted a 2-on-1 shorthanded breakaway to pull back to within one at the 5:45 mark of the third. Meyer and Bergenheim traded passes before Bergenheim deposited a backhander behind Ward to make it 3-2 Carolina.

LaRose's second tally just 1:26 later proved to be the game winner. Brandon Sutter came down the left wide and drew both Islanders' defensemen to him. Nobody picked up LaRose, who was trailing on the play and tipped home the puck to increase the Carolina lead to 4-2.

A pretty cross ice pass by Isles' captain,Bill Guerin, helped set up a blast by Mark Streit on the power play to pull the Isles to within one at 4-3 with 9:26 left in the game.

The Islanders pressured Ward in the third period, taking 22 shots. When Gleason was whistled for covering the puck with his hand in the crease with 0.7 seconds left in the game, the Islanders were awarded a penalty shot. Weight took the breakaway against his former teammate, Ward, who made a chest save to preserve the two points for Carolina.

Weight said the ice was in bad shape and his options were limited. "He was out about 10-12 feet," Weight recalled. "He went down and I tried to put it to the high glove, and I had to make a perfect shot, and I didn't. He played it well."

"I thought he might go five-hole, but I tried not to over-think it," Ward said. Despite making 57 saves, Ward was not named one of the game's three stars.

Despite losing their third straight, the Islanders saw progress in this performance. "It's not as frustrating as it was the other night. We gave ourselves a chance to win tonight, that's the big difference between tonight and the last game," Guerin said, explaining how his team played better than they did in Thursday night's 5-3 loss to Dallas. "It's a loss, and it's unacceptable, but the effort was better and we played better."

"It's a mindset, the way we played tonight," added Gordon. "They worked hard, they did a lot of the things we've talked about since training camp. It was good to see them get some success (at least) on the shot clock."

The Islanders host the rival Rangers at the Nassau Coliseum Monday night, while Carolina heads to Montreal to take on the Habs on Tuesday.

NOTES

Sutter left the game midway through the third period after taking a hard but clean hit from Weight at center ice. He was taken to the hospital for observation after lying on the ice for almost five minutes. Sutter had his head down after the puck squirted off his stick and Weight hit him with a hard shoulder. Weight said after the game that he didn't want to see anybody get hurt.

"Brandon was coming up, and the puck was bobbling. I was looking at the puck and he was coming so I tried to drop a shoulder into him. I was trying to stop his progress and make a hit. He leaned forward and I couldn't stop when he was leaning forward. I kept my elbow down. I don't like to see it. His head hit my shoulder pretty solid. I hope he's doing all right."

Brendan Witt was a scratch for the Islanders after suffering what appeared to be a knee injury in Thursday's game against Dallas. Jack Hillen replaced him in the lineup. Defenseman Andy Sutton, who has been out all season with a hand injury, is reportedly close to returning.

The Islanders set a new team record for shots on goal in a game with 60. The old record was 54 which the club accomplished twice, on March 17, 2004, against the Florida Panthers and January 1, 1994, against the Hartford Whalers. Ironically, the Islanders lost all three of those games (including tonight's) with the Panthers winning 6-4 and the Whalers 4-3. That team in Hartford is now the Carolina Hurricanes.