RALEIGH, N.C. - Rod Brind'Amour and Jeff O'Neill broke long scoring droughts when Carolina scored twice late to beat the Penguins 2-1 in overtime in the Hurricanes coaching debut of Peter Laviolette on Thursday night.
Laviolette, who replaced Paul Maurice on Monday, promised an up-tempo system that would produce more scoring and exciting action.
"We're in a position right now where we can't afford to let any slip away," Laviolette said of a team that came into the game 13th overall in the East.
But the worst scoring team in the league couldn't muster a goal against the worst defensive team in the league until Brind'Amour broke his 14-game scoring slump 15 seconds after Kevin Weekes left the Carolina net for an extra attacker with 1:10 left.
Brind'Amour banked in a shot from the side of the net after taking a pass from Josef Vasicek as Carolina outshot Pittsburgh 34-11 in regulation.
O'Neill then scored halfway through the five-minute, sudden-death overtime, taking a pass from Ron Francis on a two-on-one to score his first in 13 games.
DEVILS 3, THRASHERS 0: Martin Brodeur earned his eighth shutout this season and 72nd of his career, and Rob Skrlac had his first career goal for visiting New Jersey.
Colin White and Scott Gomez added goals.
Brodeur could challenge the record for shutouts in a season, set by George Hainsworth who had 22 in the 44-game season of 1928-29. The postexpansion record is 15 set by Tony Esposito in 1969-70. New Jersey has 52 games left.
Brodeur's career total is the best by an active goaltender. He's 31 short Terry Sawchuk's league record.
The Devils, still stinging from a 5-4 loss to the Islanders on Tuesday, won for the fifth time in seven games. New Jersey blew a 2-0 lead in that one, but Brodeur made sure it didn't happen again.
CANADIENS 5, PREDATORS 4 (OT): Host Montreal's Sheldon Souray scored 35 seconds into overtime for his first career three-goal game.
Souray, who had power-play goals in the first and second periods for his fourth multigoal game of the season, got the winner when he finished off a two-on-one by redirecting Jan Bulis' pass into an open left side.
Saku Koivu also had a power-play goal with 5:08 left in the third period to draw Montreal even for the fourth time.
Nashville is winless in five (0-2-1-2) since a franchise-record six-game winning streak from Nov. 24-Dec. 4.
RANGERS 4, ISLANDERS 3: Mike Dunham turned aside 23 shots and four players scored for New York.
Petr Nedved, Mark Messier, Matthew Barnaby and Tom Poti scored for the Rangers, who have won two of three. The Rangers lead the all-time series 85-84-19.
The Islanders, who got goals from Jason Blake, Radek Martinek and Dave Scatchard, continued to struggle on the road. They only have two wins away from Long Island (2-8-2-1).
Garth Snow started his fifth straight game in goal for the Islanders and turned aside 26 shots. It was the Islanders' first regulation loss in six games (4-1-0-1).
SENATORS 6, BLACKHAWKS 1: Marian Hossa scored twice and set up a goal to lead Ottawa.
Martin Havlat had a goal and two assists, and Daniel Alfredsson scored the 200th of his career and added an assist.
Ottawa received a 27-save performance from Ray Emery, making his second start, to win for the second time in five games.
Wade Redden and Radek Bonk had the other goals as the Senators beat the Blackhawks at home for the first time since Nov. 30, 1999.
Mark Bell scored for Chicago, winless in three games. The Blackhawks have won once in 18 games.
BLUES 4, SHARKS 2: Scott Mellanby scored twice and Keith Tkachuk had three assists to help host St. Louis extend its winning streak to six.
The Blues are 7-0-1 in their past eight. St. Louis has won four of those by one goal, including three in overtime. This was the sixth time this season the Blues (20-6-2-1) have won by at least two goals.
Tkachuk is on an eight-game point streak and he has at least one point in 14 of 15 games.
FLAMES 5, BRUINS 0: Jarome Iginla scored twice, and Jamie McLennan had 30 saves for his third shutout of the season to lead visiting Calgary to its fourth win in six games.
The Flames, 7-1-2-1 in their past 10, scored five on their first nine shots and moved into a tie with Colorado for second place in the Northwest.
Ahead 2-0 after the first, the Flames put the game out of reach with three goals during a 5:46 stretch late in the second.
WILD 1, OILERS 1: Brad Isbister scored with 1.9 seconds left to lift host Edmonton into a tie.
Sergei Zholtok scored a power-play goal on assists by ex-Lightning players Alexandre Daigle and Jason Wiemer in the second period for Minnesota
In Wild news, left wing Christoph Brandner was placed on the injured list and right wing Kyle Wanvig was recalled from AHL Houston.
MAGNUSON UPDATE: Keith Magnuson's family said they don't fault driver Rob Ramage for the crash that killed the former Blackhawks player and coach.
Ramage, formerly of the Maple Leafs, was charged with impaired driving causing death in the accident Monday outside Toronto.
"We spoke to Rob and assured him that the family does not feel he was at fault," the family said in a statement. "This was an accident and accidents happen.
