Short-Handed Hurricanes Cool Off Devils, 4-3

The Carolina Hurricanes were an unlikely candidate to knock off the hottest team in hockey Friday night.

After all, the Hurricanes played without captain and leading scorer Ron Francis (back spasms) and two injured defensemen. But Carolina got a goal 16 seconds into overtime from Jeff O’Neill for a 4-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils at Raleigh, N.C.

“You might think it is a little intimidating, but we had a game plan and we stuck to it,” O’Neill said of Carolina’s injuries. “We wanted to keep things simple. We didn’t want to have too many turnovers.”

New Jersey’s Petr Sykora scored with 6:08 left in regulation to tie the score at 3-3, but O’Neill took the puck from Scott Niedermayer at the blue line and broke in free on Chris Terreri, beating him low between his pads.

“When I was on my way into the net [the puck] was bobbling all over the place and I actually tried to go top glove and it squirted through his legs,” O’Neill said of his team-leading fifth game-winning goal.

“It was kind of a missed shot, but I’ll take it.”

O’Neill’s goal was the fastest overtime goal in franchise history, topping Brian Propp’s game-winner in 20 seconds in 1993 against Ottawa.

The victory by Carolina snapped New Jersey’s six-game road winning streak and improved its record to 3-0-12 in its last 15 overtime games.

New Jersey began the night with 70 points, most in the league.

Buffalo 1, Ottawa 0--Martin Biron made 21 saves for his fifth shutout, leading the Sabres over the Senators at Buffalo, N.Y.

James Patrick scored for the Sabres, who won their second straight and moved within two points of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Detroit 4, Calgary 1--Nicklas Lidstrom and Pat Verbeek scored power-play goals 26 seconds apart in the second period as the Red Wings defeated the Flames at Detroit. The Red Wings have won three straight after an 0-3-2 slide.

Edmonton 7, Tampa Bay 3--Josef Beranek had two goals as the Oilers scored six consecutive goals in a victory over the Lightning at Tampa, Fla.

Washington 3, Phoenix 2--Calle Johansson scored in the final second of overtime to give the Capitals a victory over the Coyotes to extend their unbeaten streak to 10 games.

St. Louis 3, Dallas 1--Lubos Bartecko scored the tiebreaking goal in the second period and goaltender Roman Turek stopped 19 shots against his former team as the Blues defeated the Stars at Dallas.

Vancouver 4, San Jose 1--Mark Messier scored two goals for the first time in almost two years as the Canucks snapped a six-game winless streak with a victory over the Sharks at Vancouver, Canada.

Around the League

The Toronto Maple Leafs, looking for some toughness on defense, signed free agent Gerald Diduck to a three-year deal worth $1 million a season plus incentives. . . . Philadelphia Flyer forward Jody Hull will miss two to four weeks with a strained knee, and defenseman Adam Burt is out for an undetermined period with a mild concussion. Both players were injured Thursday night in Philadelphia’s 4-2 victory over Florida. . . . Ottawa Senator forward Alexei Yashin will have to defend himself against a lawsuit filed by fans who said he diminished the value of their tickets by holding out from the team, the Superior Court of Ontario ruled. . . . Former New York Islander owner John Spano was sentenced to five years and 11 months in prison and ordered to make $11.9 million in restitution after he fraudulently purchased the NHL franchise.