Hurricanes Extend Winning Streak

The puck came too fast for Kevyn Adams to react. Yet it somehow bounced off his stick, skittered into the net and gave the Carolina Hurricanes the lead for good.

Perhaps it was a bit symbolic. On a night the NHL’s top team was far from perfect, it still was good enough.

“Sometimes you’re not at your best, but all that matters is two points,� Adams said. “This was a perfect example.�

Eric Staal scored his 30th goal of the season, and the Hurricanes beat the New York Islanders, 4-3, Thursday night at Raleigh, N.C., for their ninth straight victory.

The winning streak ties the franchise record set this season -- the previous best of seven came about 21 years ago when the team was the Hartford Whalers. And Carolina improved the NHL’s best home record to 21-4-1 while running its mark to 18-0 when leading after two periods.

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New Jersey 4, Nashville 3 -- The Devils squandered a two-goal lead before beating the Predators in a shootout at Nashville to extend their winning streak to eight games.

New Jersey was 16-18-5 after a loss to Toronto on Dec. 31, but the Devils are perfect in the new year and have their longest winning streak since a 13-game run in the 2000-01 season.

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Phoenix 6, Florida 3 -- Shane Doan scored two of Phoenix’s five power-play goals, and Ladislav Nagy and Keith Ballard each had four assists at Glendale, Ariz.

Zbynek Michalek, Dave Scatchard, Geoff Sanderson and Paul Mara also scored for the Coyotes, who won for the third time in four games. Phoenix converted five of seven power-play opportunities.

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Chicago 4, Colorado 2 -- Kyle Calder scored two goals, Nikolai Khabibulin made 37 saves in his first game back after a groin pull, and the Blackhawks ended the Avalanche’s eight-game winning streak with a victory at Chicago.

Khabibulin, who missed 10 games, was especially sharp in the first period when Colorado outshot Chicago, 20-4. For the game, the Avalanche held a 39-25 shots advantage.

Colorado hadn’t lost since Dec. 30 at San Jose. The streak was the third-longest in franchise history.

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New York Rangers 4, Pittsburgh 2 -- Michal Rozsival scored the winning goal late in the third period at Pittsburgh, and the Rangers extended the Penguins’ losing streak to eight games.

Rozsival, a former Penguin defenseman who came into the game with 13 points in 46 games, had a goal and an assist as the Rangers won for the first time in three games.

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Washington 5, St. Louis 4 -- Matt Pettinger scored in the fourth round of a shootout at Washington, giving the Capitals their season-high third straight victory.

After Capital goaltender Olaf Kolzig kicked away a shot by Scott Young, Pettinger beat Curtis Sanford, providing Washington with its first three-game winning streak since January 2003.

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Boston 5, Philadelphia 2 -- Travis Green scored twice to lead the Bruins at Philadelphia.

Patrice Bergeron, Marco Sturm and Wayne Primeau also had goals, and rookie Tim Thomas made 35 saves for Boston, the last-place team in the Northeast Division.

Philadelphia was without leading scorer Peter Forsberg, who has a groin injury. Four other regulars remained out: captain Keith Primeau, defensemen Eric Desjardins and Joni Pitkanen and goaltender Robert Esche.

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Calgary 3, Montreal 2 -- Jarome Iginla scored twice and added an assist at Calgary, Canada, as the Flames handed Bob Gainey his first loss in three games as the interim coach of the Canadiens.

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Vancouver 4, Buffalo 1 -- Nolan Baumgartner’s power-play goal ended a 1-1 tie in the third period at Vancouver, Canada, and helped lift the Canucks to their third straight win.

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Edmonton 3, San Jose 2 -- Michael Peca and Ryan Smyth each scored shootout goals to lift the Oilers at San Jose.