resurgence in early 2-year-old racing that seems to have taken

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Michael Leighton is back in the NHL. Gerrard Gallant is out.Leighton but made 31 saves for the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday night in 3-2 victory over Florida that turned out to be coach Gerrard Gallants last with the Panthers.Florida fired coach Gallant after the game, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press. Tom Rowe, who was promoted to general manager before the season, will assume the coaching duties, said the source who spoke on condition of anonymity because the team hasnt announced the moves.Leighton hadnt been in an NHL net in four years and hadnt won in six. He shrugged off a two-goal deficit as his teammates scored three goals in the second period, stopping 31 shots.Jeff Skinner had a goal and an assist to spark the rally, which stopped a two-game losing streak and a six-game slide in the series.Viktor Stalberg and Derek Ryan also scored for Carolina, with Ryan getting his first of the season.Leighton was outstanding, said Carolina coach Bill Peters said, whose team has won five straight home games. Once it was 3-2 he made four or five good saves. He made a great glove save on (Alexsander) Barkov coming across the middle, made a save on a penalty kill on (Aaron) Ekblad coming around the back door. He made some great saves.Cam Ward had started the previous nine games in goal for Carolina. Regular backup goalie Eddie Lack has been on injured reserve under concussion protocol for six days, with Leighton called up from Charlotte of the American Hockey League to serve as backup.Jonathan Marchessault and Ekblad scored for Florida, and Barkov had two assists.Im happy to be back and happy to get a win, Leighton said. I felt better as the game went on. The first two goals were kind of fluky. As a team we knew we had to play better in the second period. We came out flying and that made my job a little easier.Florida goalie James Reimer had 24 saves.Floridas Jaromir Jagr played in his 1,651st NHL game, tying him with Chris Chelios for fifth in NHL history. The 44-year-old Jagr had a first-period assist.Jagr is a game behind former Pittsburgh teammate and former Hurricane Mark Recchi for fourth place. The Czech star has 1,127 assists and is eight behind former Hurricane Paul Coffey for fifth on that list.For five minutes we let them come back in the game, Gallant said in his final interview as Florida coach. They scored three goals, and that was disappointing because we played 55 good minutes tonight, but it wasnt good enough.Hurricanes forward Jordan Staal sustained an upper-body injury in the first period and did not return.Florida took a 2-0 lead in the first period, outshooting the Hurricanes 16-9.Marchessault scored at 5:41 on a power play, picking up his 10th of the season when he followed Jagrs shot to beat Leighton. The goal broke Carolinas NHL-best streak of 25 consecutive penalties killed.Ekblad followed at 9:51, with Barkov earning an assist.Stalberg cut the lead in half at 5:21 of the second, beating Reimer glove-side.At 7:12, Skinner tied it on a breakaway, taking a lead pass from Rask and roofing the puck past Reimer glove side. And then at 8:49, Ryan scored his first goal of the season, a power-play marker with the assist from Skinner after Ryan won a faceoff.Its a big win, Skinner said. The last couple of games weve been right there and havent really found the way to get the result. Tonight after the first period we had a good response. We found a way to dig deep and get the result.Game notes Florida alternate captain Jussi Jokinen played in 288 games for the Hurricanes from 2008-13. ... Carolina D Noah Hanifin played in his 100th NHL game. ... Hurricanes LW Brock McGinn (upper body) missed his second straight game, and D Klas Dahlbeck and D Ryan Murphy were healthy scratches. . Florida LW Shawn Thornton and D Dylan McIlrath were healthy extras. ... The teams will play twice more this season, both in Florida on Feb. 28 and March 21.UP NEXTPanthers: Visit Chicago on Tuesday night in the second of a six-game trip.Hurricanes: At the New York Rangers on Tuesday night in the opener of a three-game trip. 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Barcelonas entertaining victory ensured the defending Spanish champions retained their share of the league lead with Atletico Madrid two rounds ahead of their meeting in the capital. Real Madrid needed a late goal by substitute Jese Rodriguez to earn a 3-2 victory at Valencia to stay in third place and three points behind its title rivals. We are going to take a circuitous route to get to a point I want to make, but bear with me. In this instance, the long way home is the interesting way home.Lets go back for a moment to Kentucky Oaks Day. Remember how Carina Mia had to run in the Eight Belles Stakes on the undercard because she didnt have enough points to get into the oversubscribed Oaks, not for performance reasons, but because of other circumstances beyond her control (the quarantine at Payson Park, Carina Mias winter quarters)? And remember how Carina Mia was so impressive winning the Eight Belles as miles the best that more than a few people opined the fillies in the Oaks were quite fortunate they didnt have to face Carina Mia that day?Okay, now lets flash back to Belmont Stakes Day, to specifically the Acorn Stakes on that tremendous undercard. The Acorn is a prestigious race; its not the Oaks, but its a terrific event, and it was Carina Mias opportunity to extract revenge on the circumstances that prevented her from competing in the Oaks, not to mention two major Oaks figures -- the winner, Cathryn Sophia, and Go Maggie Go, second-best in the Oaks after finishing a tough-trip fourth, and winner of the subsequent Black-Eyed Susan. And Carina Mia did gain a measure of revenge, winning the Acorn as clearly the best, beating both Cathryn Sophia and Go Maggie Go.Somewhat lost in that intriguing Carina Mia-Kentucky Oaks storyline was the performance of the runner up in the Acorn, Off the Tracks. Off the Tracks showed a lot of potential winning both of her starts last year, including a strong score in the Schuylerville Stakes. She romped in the Margate in her first start this year despite being announced as being nowhere near completely fit. She was then switched over to trainer Todd Pletcher, and followed with what was her only unsatisfying outing, a third as the 4-5 favorite to Go Maggie Go in the Gulfstream Park Oaks.But as flat as Off the Tracks was in the Gulfstream Oaks was as good as she was in defeat in the Acorn. Off the Tracks was held up in traffic from late on the far turn to nearly mid-stretch in the Acorn, costing her momentum, while Carina Mia got the jump on her with a clear, unobstructed run on the outside. Im not suggesting that Off the Tracks would have beaten Carina Mia in the Acorn with a clean trip. No one knows that. But what we do know is, Off the Tracks finished strongly once clear, was beaten only a little more than a length, and, notably, finished ahead of both Cathryn Sophia and Go Maggie Go.That was the setup to Off the Trackss start in Saturdays Mother Goose at Belmont Park, another race that, among other things, put the form of the Kentucky Oaks to the test, and other race that threw shade on the Oaks form.Off the Tracks faced three opponents in the Mother Goose who ran in the Kentucky Oaks -- Lewis Bay, who finished a good third; Mo dAmour, who finished fifth; and Rachels Valentina, the daughter of the heralded Rachel Alexandra who was widely expected to rebound off a sixth in the Oaks as the favorite. And Off the Tracks was simply much, much better than all of them.ddddddddddddOff the Tracks set the Mother Goose pace under pressure, and while Belmonts main track was quite fast on Saturday, her fractions of 22.79 seconds, 45.53, and 1:09.62 were very strong for a race for 3-year-old fillies going 1 1/16 miles. Thats why when Lewis Bay, who did stumble at the start, but who also sat a beautiful inside trip off the pace, tipped out at the top of the stretch with dead aim on Off the Tracks, she looked 2-5 to inhale Off the Tracks and win decisively. Instead, Off the Tracks turned back and ran away from Lewis Bay like she wasnt even there. This was powerful stuff.As for Mo dAmour, she clunked along to finish a non-threatening fourth. And in Rachels Valentinas defense, she also stumbled at the start. But still, she really gave it up in the stretch after holding sweet early outside stalking position and finished fifth, again as the favorite.Its funny. When a division has a leader as dominant as Songbird is in this years 3-year-old filly division, the rest of the division is, far more often than not, weak and uninspiring. Not so with this years 3-year-old filly division, though. Its stunning how there are so many legitimately good ones, even in the face of Songbird.Lucky us.Quick notes* She is a Grade 1 winner and twice Grade 1 stakes placed, so shes set for life. Nevertheless, I honestly feel bad for Rachels Valentina. Given that her mom is Rachel Alexandra, how can she ever live up to expectations?* I like early-season 2-year-old racing. Its good for the game, and its good for 2-year-olds. That said, I usually dont put much stock in early-season 2-year-old stakes results, which is why 2-year-old rankings dont appear in my Watchmaker Watch until mid-August. However, if the resurgence in early 2-year-old racing that seems to have taken place over the last couple of years continues, I might reassess.But my skepticism of early 2-year-old stakes is being put to the test by the Bashford Manor Stakes at Churchill Downs. I thought the Bashford Manor was, in relative terms, a very strongly run race. The final time of 1:09.39 for six furlongs is impressive compared with the 1:11.01 fillies needed to complete the Debutante Stakes just 34 minutes later. Classic Empire came from inside, outside, and inside, and from well off the pace to catch the very speedy Recruiting Ready, with the rest of the Bashford Manor field a city block up the track. I think both a very nice prospects.* Its anyones guess if he will improve for the experience, or if he will return to his free, front-running style, but Danzing Candy clearly did not like being rated early in the Affirmed Stakes at Santa Anita, and could only finish second at 1-5. It wouldnt matter so much if Danzing Candy werent so talented. But he is very talented, as he showed when he won the San Felipe over Mor Spirit and Preakness winner Exaggerator. ' ' '