Hurricanes Move Right to the Top

Now that the Carolina Hurricanes are alone atop the NHL standings, maybe they’ll get noticed.

Rod Brind’Amour scored in the fourth round of a shootout to lift the surprising Hurricanes to their eighth consecutive victory, this one 4-3 over the host Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night.

Erik Cole’s breakaway goal for Carolina with 3 minutes 58 seconds left in regulation sent the game to overtime after the Flyers twice wasted two-goal leads in the third period.

“Sometimes we have no business being in the game, but we hang around enough and find ways to win,” Brind’Amour said.

The Hurricanes moved past Ottawa for the NHL lead with 66 points. The Flyers are two points behind.

Carolina hasn’t lost since the Flyers beat them, 4-3, in overtime Dec. 29.

Colorado 5, Toronto 3 -- Milan Hejduk scored two power-play goals 34 seconds apart at Denver to help the Avalanche win its eighth consecutive game and tie for the Northwest Division lead.

Rookie Marek Svatos scored his 27th goal of the season, best in the Western Conference.

New Jersey 5, St. Louis 3 -- Martin Brodeur ended a tie with Hall of Famer Tony Esposito for fifth place on the NHL’s victory list, making 26 saves at St. Louis.

Brodeur has 424 victories to pass Esposito on a career list for the second time this month. He earned his 77th shutout, against the Flyers on Jan. 9, good for seventh place on that list.

The Devils have won seven consecutive games and the Blues have lost seven in a row.

New York Islanders 2, Chicago 1 -- Oleg Kvasha beat rookie goalie Adam Munro off a rebound at 3:02 of overtime to lift the Islanders at Chicago.

The Islanders are 3-9-0 in their last 12 games and the Blackhawks are 2-11-2 in their last 15.