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Tickets from ticket master
Eric Staal scored his seventh goal of the preseason and Kevin Weekes stopped 17 shots as the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Washington Capitals 3-1 Saturday night.
The 18-year-old rookie center, the second overall pick in this year's draft, led all NHL players in goals in the preseason.
Carolina general
manager Jim Rutherford has until 3 p.m. Monday to sign Staal or he returns to
his junior team for the season.
Radim Vrbata scored an unassisted goal with 6:37 left to give Carolina a two-goal
lead. Ticketmaster
Matt Pettinger had Washington's lone goal about a minute after Vrbata's score. But the Capitals couldn't rally after taking two penalties in the final 2:46 as Ron Francis scored on the two-man advantage to seal it.
At one point in the second period Carolina held a 20-4 shot advantage before Staal put in his backhander from the slot past Sebastien Charpentier.
Washington had a two-man advantage for 49 seconds after Aaron Ward was called for boarding and Glen Wesley went off for slashing, but the Capitals failed to beat Weekes midway through the second. Ticketmaster
Washington star Jaromir Jagr finished without a goal in seven preseason games.
Carolina played without defenseman Bob Boughner, who broke his left hand in a fight Friday night at Washington and could be lost for a month. Ticketmaster
The Hurricanes open the regular season Thursday at Florida while Washington opens at home against the New York Islanders.