RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -Ray Whitney had a goal and two assists and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 on Thursday night to vault back into first place in the Southeast Division.
Erik Cole and Eric Staal snapped long scoring droughts with power-play goals and Ryan Bayda added his first goal for the depleted Hurricanes, who also lost captain and leading scorer Rod Brind’Amour in the game’s opening moments with a torn ligament in his left knee.
Whitney, who entered with no goals in his previous 10 games, broke a 2-all tie with 16:15 left when he took a feed from Staal while slipping into the slot and beat Dany Sabourin with a low wrist shot to his glove side.
Cam Ward stopped 20 shots for Carolina, which held an overwhelming 46-22 shots advantage and won its second straight to move back into the division lead ahead of idle Atlanta and Washington.
Islanders 5, Maple Leafs 4
TO (AP) – Ruslan Fedotenko scored two of the Islanders’ four power-play goals and New York earned its second straight victory.
Mike Comrie and Bryan Berard also had power-play goals while Freddy Meyer added an empty-netter for the Islanders, who moved within four points of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Alex Ponikarovsky, Matt Stajan, Mats Sundin and Darcy Tucker scored for the Leafs, who dropped to 29th overall in the 30-team NHL after Tampa Bay beat Philadelphia on Thursday night.
The Leafs are eight points out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with 23 games to play in the regular season and have five games left before the Feb. 26 trade deadline.
Lightning 5, Flyers 3
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Martin St. Louis had a goal and two assists to help Tampa Bay hand Philadelphia its fifth straight loss.
Steve Downie, Joffrey Lupul and Jeff Carter each scored for the Flyers, who are on their longest losing streak since a six-game skid in late December.
Blackhawks 6, Predators 1
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Jonathan Toews scored a pair of goals and assisted on another and Chicago beat Nashville.
Duncan Keith, Rene Bourque, Cam Barker and Patrick Sharp also scored for the Blackhawks.
Jason Arnott scored for the Predators.
Blues 4, Avalanche 1
ed St. Louis’ second short-handed goal of the season and Manny Legace stopped 39 shots, lifting the Blues over Colorado.
Paul Kariya and Jay McClement scored first-period goals for the Blues, who’ve won two in a row.
David Backes added an empty-net goal with 1:27 remaining, his ninth goal of the season.
Ben Guite scored for Colorado.
Coyotes 5, Stars 2
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) – Radim Vrbata scored a short-handed goal and added two assists to help Phoenix snap a four-game losing streak.
Shane Doan, Daniel Carcillo, Nick Boynton and Niko Kapanen also scored for Phoenix.
Matt Niskanen and Jussi Jokinen scored for Dallas.
Wild 5, Canucks 4, SO
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) – Mikko Koivu scored the winning goal in a shootout and Minnesota recovered from a pair of rare blown leads in the third period to beat Vancouver.
Ryan Kesler and Alexander Edler scored 16 seconds apart early in the third period to give the Canucks a 3-2 lead. Kurtis Foster tied it on the power play and Marian Gaborik made it 4-3 with a great individual effort 2 1/2 minutes later, but Edler tied it again for the Canucks with 2:44 left to play. Stephane Veilleux scored the other two goals for Minnesota.
Oilers 3, Sharks 2
nd Edmonton defeated San Jose.
Joe Pavelski and Mike Grier scored for San Jose.
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