NHL Last Night: Samsonov leads Canes Past Devils

Updated 2:21 AM EST, Wed, Jan 7, 2009

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RALEIGH, North Carolina — Sergei Samsonov scored his 200th NHL career goal as the Carolina Hurricanes withstood a late rally to beat the New Jersey Devils 3-2 on Tuesday.

Ray Whitney and Tuomo Ruutu also scored for the Hurricanes, who extended their winning streak to a season-high four games.

Cam Ward continued his recent surge for the Hurricanes, making 26 saves. The Carolina goalie won all three of his starts last week and posted a 1.33 goals against-average.

Paul Martin scored a power-play goal for the Devils in the third period to break Ward's shutout. Patrik Elias added another with 21.5 seconds left.

Wild 1, Bruins 0

At Boston, Niklas Backstrom stopped 28 shots for his second straight shutout and fifth of the season.

Marek Zidlicky scored a second-period power-play goal, lifting Minnesota to its second win against Eastern Conference-leading Boston this season.

The victory was the sixth straight against an Eastern Conference team for the Wild and raised their mark to 10-1-1 against teams from the East this season.

Red Wings 3, Blue Jackets 0

At Detroit, Ty Conklin made 23 saves for his eighth career shutout and Pavel Datsyuk had a goal and two assists for Detroit, which won its fourth straight.

Marian Hossa had a goal and an assist and Henrik Zetterberg added a goal. Conklin got his fourth shutout this season and stretched his home scoreless streak to 138 minutes, 46 seconds.

Capitals 2, Flyers 1, SO

At Washington, Washington beat Philadelphia in a shootout to avenge the only loss its had in a month and ease some of the sting from last year's first-round playoff series loss.

Jose Theodore made 33 saves and stopped all three shots in the shootout, strengthening his claim to the No. 1 goaltender spot. Nicklas Backstrom scored in the first period for the Capitals, and Viktor Kozlov was the only player in the shootout to find the net.

The most startling turnabout, however, was the atmosphere in the arena. Throngs traveling from Philadelphia usually match the home fans in noise if not in number, yet for the first time in memory the Flyers faithful were a minor blip when compared to a playoff-intensity Capitals crowd that sold out the building for the sixth straight game and ninth overall.

Penguins 3, Thrashers 1

At Pittsburgh, Petr Sykora ended Pittsburgh's seven-game drought without a power-play goal while scoring twice and Evgeni Malkin came out of a slump with three assists.

The Penguins, outscored 10-1 in their previous two games, also got captain Sidney Crosby's first power-play goal in 26 games and ended a five-game losing streak. Also, they had dropped five in a row at home.

Atlanta, last in the Eastern Conference, didn't show much life.

Sabres 4, Senators 2

At Buffalo, New York, Derek Roy had a goal and two assists as Buffalo avoided blowing a three-goal lead.

Matt Ellis, Drew Stafford and Thomas Vanek with a game-sealing empty-netter in the final minute also scored for the Sabres, who won their third straight and snapped a four-game home losing streak against Northeast Division rival Ottawa.

Jason Spezza scored both goals for the Senators 32 seconds apart in the second period after Ottawa fell behind 3-0.

Panthers 4, Maple Leafs 2

At Toronto, Stephen Weiss, Ville Peltonen, Michael Frolik and Gregory Campbell scored for Florida.

Former Toronto defenseman Bryan McCabe added an assist and goaltender Tomas Vokoun stopped 24 shots.

Alexei Ponikarovsky and Jason Blake scored for the Maple Leafs.

Avalanche 2, Predators 1

At Nashville, Tennessee, Wojtek Wolski scored both goals for Colorado.

It was the fifth loss in a row for Nashville. The Avalanche ended a two-game slide.

Ryan Jones, recalled from Milwaukee of the American Hockey League earlier in the day, scored for the Predators.