Hurricanes 3, Thrashers 2
Erik Cole scored to snap a tie with 79 seconds remaining in the third period and All-Star Cam Ward made 41 saves as the Carolina Hurricanes skated to a 3-2 road victory over the Atlanta Thrashers on Sunday in a battle of Southeast Division rivals.
Carolina (27-22-8), which has won all four meetings against Atlanta (25-23-10) this season, is in sole possession of eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings.
Jiri Tlusty and defenseman Joe Corvo scored and Sergei Samonsov notched a pair of assists for Carolina, which snapped a three-game losing skid and won for just the second time in seven games.
With the game tied at 2-2 in the waning moments of the third period, Cole collected a loose puck and wired it past Ondrej Pavelec for his third goal in five games and 16th of the season.
Ward turned aside 32 of his 41 saves in the second and third periods to improve to 18-8-2 in 29 career games against the Thrashers.
Andrew Ladd leveled the contest on two occasions with unassisted tallies for Atlanta, which has dropped eight of its last 10.
Pavelec finished with 14 saves to fall to 2-4-2 in eight career starts against the Hurricanes.