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Hurricanes Breeze Past Rangers, 5-3

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From the Associated Press

Doug Weight is starting to look comfortable with his new team, and that’s a welcome sight for the NHL-leading Carolina Hurricanes.

Weight scored two goals and had an assist to help the Hurricanes set franchise records for victories, home wins and points in a season with a 5-3 victory over the slumping New York Rangers on Tuesday night at Raleigh, N.C.

Matt Cullen, Mike Commodore and Cory Stillman also scored for the Hurricanes, who earned their 44th victory, 27th home win and 94th point in the standings -- surpassing three records set in Hartford during the 1986-87 season.

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Martin Gerber finished with 41 saves to help Carolina avoid its first four-game losing streak.

Michael Nylander scored two goals for New York, which has lost six in a row after wining seven in a row.

Petr Sykora also scored for the Rangers.

Weight, acquired from St. Louis on Jan. 30, didn’t score a goal in his first 11 games with Carolina before finding the net in Saturday’s 4-3 overtime loss to Florida.

But the 14-year NHL veteran and four-time All-Star followed that with his best showing for the Hurricanes, who need extra production after losing Erik Cole (30 goals) to a broken vertebra in his neck earlier this month.

“I love the fact that this team feels I can be a big piece of the puzzle to help us win,” Weight said. “That excites me. It’s a big move. You’re away from your family and you’re nervous about your teammates, and I’m the kind of guy I want to show them every shift that I’m worth it.”

Edmonton 2, Minnesota 1 -- Dwayne Roloson made 30 saves at St. Paul, Minn., and beat his former Wild teammates for his first victory with Edmonton.

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The Wild traded Roloson to Edmonton last week for a first-round draft pick this summer and future considerations.

Ottawa 4, Tampa Bay 3 -- Daniel Alfredsson scored with seven seconds left in the third period to lift the Senators to victory at Ottawa.

New York Islanders 6, New Jersey 1 -- Rick DiPietro made 16 saves, and Alexei Yashin scored two goals to lead New York to its fourth consecutive victory, this one at East Rutherford, N.J.

Buffalo 6, Washington 4 -- Ales Kotalik scored with 1:43 to play to help the Sabres run their winning streak to seven games with the victory at home.

Toronto 5, Boston 4 -- Darcy Tucker scored the only goal in a shootout to lift the Maple Leafs to victory at Toronto.

Nashville 5, Vancouver 0 -- Tomas Vokoun made 31 saves for his third shutout of the season and Dan Hamhuis and Scott Hartnell each had a goal and an assist for the Predators at Nashville.

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