RALEIGH, North Carolina: The Carolina Hurricanes haven’t had much to celebrate lately. Against the New York Rangers, it’s been years. The Hurricanes changed both story lines Tuesday night with a 3-1 win against the Rangers.
Carolina made the most of a goal and assist from both Jordan Staal and Jiri Tlusty to snap a 10-game losing streak against New York.
‘’You have to wake up and just be confident in our game and our system and keep moving forward and looking ahead,’’ Staal said. ‘’The last couple games we’ve had haven’t been a great result, but our effort has always been there. It’s nice to get a good result.’’
Carolina had lost seven of eight to fall well behind in the Metropolitan Division race. The Hurricanes were outscored 30-16 in that stretch. Jamie Benn scored in overtime and goaltender Tim Thomas picked up a first win with his new team as the Dallas Stars beat the St Louis Blues.
The Stars, who won their third in a row, were playing just 24 hours after teammate Rich Peverley suffered a cardiac episode in the first period of a home game against Columbus, a contest that was eventually postponed.
Peverley is listed in stable condition at a Dallas hospital. He sent a text message of encouragement to his teammates earlier in the day.
Sidney Crosby scored his 31st goal of the season as the Pittsburgh Penguins earned a sweep of games on back-to-back nights against the Washington Capitals. Pittsburgh (44-17-4) also defeated the Capitals 3-2 on Monday and now have eight consecutive wins against them.
Crosby increased his lead in the NHL’s overall points table, he now has 88 on the season, while Jussi Jokinen also scored.
Rookie Boone Jenner and Brandon Dubinsky scored 40 seconds apart in the third period to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets to a win over the Detroit Red Wings.
Derek MacKenzie and left winger Nick Foligno also scored for the Blue Jackets, while goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made 39 saves, 17 of them in the first period. The Blue Jackets (34-26-5) are in eighth-place in the Eastern Conference, pulling two points ahead of the ninth-place Red Wings (29-23-13), who have qualified for the playoffs in 22 consecutive seasons.
Jaromir Jagr scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period as the New Jersey Devils beat the Philadelphia Flyers.
Travis Zajac also had a goal and goaltender Martin Brodeur made 30 saves to help the Devils (29-24-13) inch closer in the Eastern Conference playoff race. The Devils are just two points behind the Flyers and the Columbus Blue Jackets for the final two playoff spots.
Defenceman Nicklas Grossmann scored the only goal for Philadelphia (33-25-7). Flyers winger Scott Hartnell thought he had scored a tying goal in the final minute, but it was waived off by officials because Hartnell ran into Brodeur before the puck went in.
The Phoenix Coyotes, battling for the last playoff berth in the Western Conference, defeated the Florida Panthers. Phoenix had goals from center Mike Ribeiro, defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Radim Vrbata. Jordan Eberle, David Perron and Taylor Hall scored in a shootout, lifting the Edmonton Oilers to a come-from-behind win over the Minnesota Wild.
Trailing 3-1 midway through the third period, the Oilers got goals from Perron and Eberle late in regulation, then the shootout goals for their third win in the past four games.
Agencies
