Hurricanes Get First Victory

Ray Whitney scored on a tip-in with half a second left in the third period Friday night at Atlanta, lifting the Carolina Hurricanes past the Atlanta Thrashers, 4-3, the defending Stanley Cup champions’ first win of the season.

Cam Ward stopped 31 shots for the Hurricanes, who were off to an 0-3-1 start. An overtime period seemed inevitable until Whitney’s first goal of the season. He tipped in a shot by Eric Staal.

Buffalo 3, Detroit 2 -- Ales Kotalik’s shootout goal gave the Sabres the victory over the host Red Wings. Daniel Briere also scored for the Sabres in the shootout. Pavel Datsyuk got the Red Wings’ only shootout goal. Chris Drury and Thomas Vanek scored in regulation for the unbeaten Sabres (4-0-0).

Florida 3, Tampa Bay 2 -- Jay Bouwmeester scored a power-play goal with nine minutes left in the third period at Sunrise, Fla., to break a tie and the Panthers handed the Lightning its third consecutive loss.

San Jose 6, Vancouver 4 -- Curtis Brown and Mike Grier both beat Roberto Luongo on third-period breakaways to lift the Sharks and spoil the Canucks’ home opener.