NHL

Hurricanes win ninth straight

SUNRISE - Eric Staal scored his team-leading 12th goal and Martin Gerber stopped 26 shots Friday as Carolina beat Florida 1-0 for its franchise-record ninth consecutive victory.

Gerber recorded his second shutout of the season (both over the Panthers) in outdueling Roberto Luongo, who made 34 saves. He stopped 27 shots on Nov.5 in Carolina's 2-0 win against Florida, which has lost seven in a row.

Staal connected on a power play with 2:44 left in the second. Erik Cole passed from behind the net to Staal just outside the crease. Staal flipped the puck over a prone Luongo into the right corner.

"Cole made a great pass through the back door," Staal said. "You never know with Luongo. I just buried it hard. I had a little bit of an empty cage."

Florida's best chance to tie came with 4:01 left. Niklas Hagman got the puck in front of the crease, but Gerber made a pad save and fell on the rebound.

Cole, who on Wednesday became the first player awarded two penalty shots in a game, was given another with 5:24 left in the first after he being pulled down from behind on a breakaway by Mike Van Ryn.

But his shot went high and wide to the left of Luongo. He is only the second player with penalty shots in consecutive games, joining Los Angeles' Esa Pirnes in October 2003.

"The new rules have been a big benefit for me to use my speed through the neutral ice," Cole said. "It lets me use my best asset to beat guys up the middle and force them into hauling me down. But then I have to capitalize on it.

"I changed the curve of my stick to put it over his glove, and it went too high."

DEVILS 4, CAPITALS 3: Martin Brodeur, returning after missing six games with a sprained right knee, made 21 saves for visiting New Jersey, which ended a four-game losing streak, its longest since 2001. In ending the longest absence of his 13-season career, Brodeur won his 408th game to pass Glenn Hall for sixth all time.

Zach Parise put New Jersey up 2-1 with 4:17 left in the second, 41 seconds after Matt Bradley tied it. Brian Gionta made it 3-1 3:56 later.

The Capitals played without goalie Olie Kolzig because of a strained groin. Frederic Cassivi was recalled from Hershey and made 26 saves in his first start since Feb.25, 2003, with Atlanta. But they got back defenseman Ivan Majesky, the former Thrasher who signed in the offseason but missed the first 15 games with a torn ACL sustained during the world championships in May.

WINGS 3, WILD 1: Brendan Shanahan and Jason Williams scored in the second in host Detroit's third consecutive win. Shanahan made it 1-0 7:28 in, putting in a rebound from the bottom of the left circle off Jiri Fischer's shot from the point. Then 1:58 later on a power play, Williams came in from the point, took a pass from Henrik Zetterberg and scored on a wrister from the bottom of the right circle.

OILERS 3, BLUE JACKETS 1: Ryan Smyth assisted on all three goals, including Fernando Pisani's winner in the third, for visiting Edmonton, which is 9-0-3 in its past 12 against Columbus. With the score 1-1, Edmonton's Ales Hemsky took a hard check in the offensive end but kept the puck alive. Shawn Horcoff got the puck and centered to Pisani, who chipped it past Marc Denis.

SABRES 5, LEAFS 2: Tim Connolly scored twice, including the winner, as host Buffalo ended a four-game losing streak. Connolly made it 1-0 6:46 in, beating Ed Belfour with a wrist shot from the right circle. Tied at 2 early in the third, he made a nifty move inside the blue line to get around Ken Klee then backhanded a shot in. Buffalo, which got defenseman Toni Lydman back from an injured groin sustained Oct.28, won for only the second time in eight games after starting 6-2.

OILERS: Center Krystofer Kolanos was claimed off waivers from Phoenix. Kolanos, 24, whose overtime goal won the NCAA title for Boston College in 2001, played in only nine of 18 games with two goals and one assist. He was a healthy scratch in most of the other games.

PANTHERS: Defenseman Branislav Mezei is out for the season with torn knee ligaments sustained Wednesday against the Rangers.

[Last modified November 12, 2005, 00:55:15]