For the Carolina Hurricanes, the ending has the potential to be as remarkable as it would be unlikely, with last spring’s Eastern Conference finalists now in the process of making a desperate, if daunting late push to overcome a disastrous start and repeat a scenario they created a season ago.

Young Brandon Sutter has helped spark the ‘Canes down the stretch. (US Presswire) Carolina still has five teams to climb over to hit the postseason and only four weeks left to do it. Still, the Hurricanes have seemingly come out of nowhere and turned into one of the league’s hottest teams over the last two months, an effort that has cut the deficit they are facing in half during that run.

“Obviously it’s a cliché, but you still have to take it one game at a time,” captain Eric Staal said. “We’ve been playing very well lately and with a lot of confidence, so you never know what could happen.”

This season would be a good example of that.

The Hurricanes opened their schedule expecting, or at least hoping, to build on a great second half run that lifted them into the playoffs and left them as one of the final four teams last season. In part, the plan was to give several of the aging veterans remaining from their 2006 Stanley Cup team a last kick at the can, but those dreams quickly turned into a nightmare. Carolina was hit hard by key injuries, including extended ones to Staal and franchise goalie Cam Ward only a few days apart, and ended up buried in the standings within weeks of the first puck being dropped.

“You don’t want to use injuries as an excuse, but the reality is that we just had too many NHL players out of the lineup,” coach Paul Maurice said. “That said, we weren’t playing the way we needed to play to win.

“At the end of last season we were winning an awful lot of one-goal games by being smart. But for whatever reason, we started this one playing a high-risk game from our end, giving up way too much offense and as a result, not generating enough as a team and causing ourselves even more problems.”

Big ones actually. The offense was almost non-existent and Ward was shaky as Carolina opened the season by losing 16 of the first 18 games including 14 in a row, a level of futility that had the Hurricanes dead last and 15 points out of a playoff spot by Christmas. With the handwriting clearly on the wall, general manager Jim Rutherford started shifting his focus to the future, making it known that he would be a seller leading up to the trade deadline while opening up roster spots for young players to show what they could do.

Rutherford was true to his word, moving out veterans like Niclas Wallin, Matt Cullen, Aaron Ward, Joe Corvo, Scott Walker, Stephane Yelle and Andrew Alberts mainly for draft picks and prospects by the time the cutoff arrived. As a result, Carolina now has 11 picks in this June’s draft, including three in the second round and two in the third. And it shaved some $2 million of its payroll, a critical accomplishment for a small-market franchise that has struggled at the box office this season.

Hurricanes Points Pct. Month Points Pct. October .292 November .267 December .462 January .643 February .714 March * .750

“That’s understandable because our team didn’t play well for a few months and times are tough, so we didn’t draw as much as we would have liked,” Rutherford said. “From a business point of view, we felt the need to cut our losses while still keeping an eye on the future, and in that respect, we did what we wanted to do.”

And Rutherford managed to kee high-scoring veteran forward Ray Whitney. But his most important move seems to have been made long before he started shipping away players. On Jan. 20, the general manager named Staal to replace veteran Rod Brind’Amour as captain, a change that was surprising because of its timing, but one that had an immediate impact.

Staal had a hat trick in his first game wearing the “C,” while the Hurricanes have gone 13-4 since then, including eight wins in their last nine games. They have outscored opponents 57-33 and posted some of the league’s best special-teams numbers in that span. Equally important, Carolina has also lowered the average age of its roster by more than two years to 28.05 over the last couple of months. Young players like Brandon Sutter and Zach Boychuk who have been given added ice time have provided the kind of energy that has helped fuel a turnaround after it seemed like the season was over.

“Some people might think the pressure came off at midseason, but to me the difference was have having enough players coming into the lineup with a completely different kind of pressure,” Maurice said. “They don’t feel responsible for what happened in the first few months of the season, they’re here working hard, trying to make a name for themselves and to stay in the NHL. It creates a lot of positive energy.”

That’s what the Hurricanes hope to ride as far as they can down the stretch. Carolina is still without Ward, who went down for a second time just before the Olympic break and is listed as day to day, but in the meantime, veteran journeyman Manny Legace and rookie Justin Peters have been carrying the load and keeping the Hurricanes faint hopes alive.

“Obviously we have a big hill to climb, but we’d like to make this playoff race a little more interesting,” Rutherford said.

“I think we all care about the safety of our players, first and foremost,” Philadelphia Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said Tuesday. “I think there’s been some hits this year that all of us feel uncomfortable with, so we’re trying to do what’s right, not only for the players but for the game.”

For the second straight day, this was the main topic of discussion at the general managers’ annual meeting.

Dallas Stars GM Joe Nieuwendyk said stiffer penalties must be handed out to players who repeatedly make hits to the head.

“Clearly, the blindside and the unsuspecting player is what we’re targeting,” said Nieuwendyk, a three-time Stanley Cup champion. “I do we ha obviously the David Booth one is kind I think it’s going to be for the good of the game.”

Booth, a left wing for the Florida Panthers, was carted off the ice on a stretcher after an open-ice hit by Flyers captain Mike Richards on Oct. 24. He sustained a concussion and missed 45 games.

“It’s a rough sport, but we’re just trying to take the necessary steps to protect our players without taking hitting out of the game,” Nieuwendyk said.

San Jose Sharks GM Doug Wilson suggested that the consensus favored supplemental discipline as a way of combating the problem. But he cautioned there was still fine-tuning to be done and it was “premature” to provide a definitive course of action that will follow from these meetings, which end Wednesday.

Any recommendations would be forwarded to the competition committee. Then the general managers would vote on any change before the matter goes to the board of governors.

“If you’re trying to address something that’s a concern to us, it involves both elements to make it be impactful,” Wilson said. “I hope tomorrow we can put something in place to say this is how we’re going to play the game; what’s acceptable, what’s not acceptable.”

On other matters, the New York Islanders proposed a series of elimination games among the bottom eight teams in each conference to determine the final playoff seed. Also discussed was giving coaches the ability to challenge plays, having two players select the all-star teams and experimenting with a different point format in the standings.

One potential change that seemed to have support was altering the tiebreaking format to favor teams with the highest number of regulation victories rather than total wins.

After all, the puck rattled around and glanced off him and the goalie before finally going into the net for the decisive score in the Vancouver Canucks’ 6-4 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday.

Mikael Samuelsson added his first NHL hat trick for the Canucks, who rallied from a three-goal deficit for their fourth victory in five games.

There was 2:08 left when Hansen snapped the tie with an unusual goal that was confirmed by video replay. Aaron Rome took a shot from the point that bounced off the end boards. Hansen rushed into the crease between the net and goalie Craig Anderson, and the puck caromed in off his lower body.

“It was lucky. Lucky,” Hansen said. “I’m coming from the corner and it touched me in the chest and got stuck in my jersey. I skated by the goalie, it dropped off, hit him in the back and with a few bounces went into the net.”

Anderson said he was hoping officials would have waved off the goal for goalie interference.

“The puck hit him in the stomach and it came down and somehow bounced in,” Anderson said. “He took me out of the play to get to the puck. It’s a judgment call on the referee’s part.”

Hansen said he never worried that the goal would be nullified.

“I was sure it would [stand up] because I didn’t use my hands,” Hansen said. “It was a good goal.”

Daniel Sedin added an empty-net goal with 8.8 seconds left to seal the Canucks’ fourth straight win over Colorado. The Avalanche were denied in their bid to move into a tie with Northwest Division-leading Vancouver.

“Frustrating. The most frustrating loss we’ve had in a long time,” Colorado defenseman John-Michael Liles said. “Too many turnovers. We’d make a mistake and the puck was behind us and in the net. We stopped taking the play to them and they took it us.”

Down 3-0 and 4-1, Vancouver pulled within 4-3 when Samuelsson scored his third goal of the night at 18:18 of the second period. Samuelsson picked up a loose puck in the crease and tapped it past Anderson.

The Canucks tied it with 11:56 remaining when Alex Burrows, positioned in front of Anderson, deflected in Christian Erhoff’s shot.

“We wished we didn’t have to come back in any game. It takes too much energy out of you,” Samuelsson said. “But this shows we can play for 60 minutes.”

Colorado scored three goals in the first period, netting the first two in a 28-second span.

Peter Mueller, skating behind the net, got the puck out to Matt Duchene. He punched it in with a shot from just outside the right post at 6:17 of the first period.

T.J. Galiardi set up the second goal, passing the puck ahead to Chris Stewart, who gathered speed while skating down the right side and ripped a slap shot from a tough angle near the lower edge of the circle. The puck beat goalie Roberto Luongo’s glove and got inside the right post.

The Avalanche made it 3-0 on Duchene’s second goal of the night and 23rd of the season at 13:26 of the first.

Paul Statsny, matching a career high with his 50th assist, fed Duchene in the slot. Duchene wristed the puck into the net on the power play. He benefited when the puck glanced off the skate Vancouver defenseman Alexander Edler, causing a change of direction that Luongo could not adjust to in time.

Vancouver scored it first goal when Samuelsson netted his first at 6:40 of the second period, but the Avalanche came right back on an unassisted score by Mueller 36 seconds later.

Samuelsson made it 4-2 at 11:45 of the second, knocking a rebound past Anderson.

Notes

Duchene leads NHL rookies with 10 power-play goals. Mueller has at least one point in each of his four games for Colorado since being acquired a week ago in a trade with Phoenix. Samuelsson boosted his point total to a career-high 46. His 27 goals this season rank second on the Canucks to Burrows’ 30.

The Blackhawks are coming off the kind of weekend that should both excite and terrify their fans.

Cristobal Huet’s play has not been inspiring confidence. (US Presswire) It began with Chicago proving how dangerous an attack it has by blowing out another division leader in Vancouver and its star goalie, Canadian Olympian Roberto Luongo. And it ended with the Blackhawks reminding everyone of how vulnerable they might be going forward because of goaltending that is clearly the most questionable part of this team.

The offense is nothing new, of course, for a team that has Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews leading the attack. Chicago still has to be considered a Stanley Cup favorite because of its explosiveness, but it has been dogged by questions about its strength between the pipes all season. And those questions aren’t likely to go away since Chicago has allowed at least four goals in four of its past six games, changed goalies in three of them and was blitzed for five in the second period of a crucial loss to surging Central Division rival Detroit.

The situation hasn’t been helped by some unusually porous defensive play by Chicago since the Olympic break, but the reality is that neither of its goaltenders has been making big saves at crucial times of late. And that is creating a dilemma for the Blackhawks as the playoffs approach.

Chicago did not upgrade its goaltending at the deadline last week, and with the division title locked up, will spend the final five weeks of the schedule trying to figure out which of its netminders can carry the load when crunch time arrives. Veteran Cristobal Huet has been less than impressive since arriving as a free agent before last season, while rookie Antii Niemi has shown sold flashes, but has no playoff experience.

Huet didn’t exactly set the world on fire in his previous postseasons as a member of Montreal and Washington, with pedestrian save percentage and goals-against numbers to go along with a 6-10 record and no series wins. Still, the Blackhawks might not have any c confidence for the playoffs.

The rankings through Sunday night’s games:

Power Rankings
CurrentTeamPrevious1Capitals · Trends1No one did better at the deadline than the Caps, who got deeper in key spots and have Jose Theodore looking very sharp in goal. 2Sharks · Trends2San Jose has not lost a regulation game it has led after two periods. The Sharks are 30-0-4 when ahead after 40 minutes.3Penguins · Trends9On a post-Olympic high, the Penguins are 4-0, including three come-from-behind wins since play resumed.4Blackhawks · Trends3Middle mismanagement. Chicago has been outscored 16-6 in second periods in the past six games.5Coyotes · Trends7Ilya Bryzgalov has set a franchise record with 34 wins this season for the Coyotes, who made a number of solid deadline moves to enhance their playoff prospects.6Canucks · Trends6Holding their own on the long road trip, even though the Sedin twins have only an empty-net goal between them in Vancouver’s past 11 games.7Kings · Trends4Go figure. The Kings were buyers at the deadline and added depth to the forward lines, then lost two games in a row for the first time since early January.8Avalanche · Trends8Still hanging tough in the Northwest race. Meanwhile Chris Stewart is on fire these days, with seven goals and 15 points in his past eight games.9Sabres · Trends14Buffalo is hoping the addition of crease crasher Raffi Torres will help a power play that has just one goal in the past 31 tries.10Flyers · Trends12A strong finish from Scott Hartnell and Simon Gagne could offset the lack of deadline moves. The duo has only 23 goals between them this season.11Red Wings · Trends15The Red Wings are getting their groove back and Pavel Datsyuk is leading the way with eight goals and 10 assists in his past 14 games.12Senators · Trends5Flu bug has hit Ottawa hard since the break, sidelining captain Daniel Alfredsson among others during a three-game losing streak.13Devils · Trends10New Jersey needs to shore things up in a hurry. The Devils have only six wins in their past 20 games.14Canadiens · Trends21A solid road trip to start the final push, but Carey Price isn’t doing much to convince anyone he’s the goalie of the future with five losses in his past seven starts.15Bruins · Trends13Another major blow to the punchless Bruins with Marc Savard back on the sidelines with a concussion. 16Flames · Trends16Ten goals in two weekend games is a good sign. So is Vesa Toskala’s debut. He could be the backup Calgary has sought for years to spell Miikka Kiprusoff.17Ducks · Trends11Ducks are suddenly having problems at home, where they’ve been so good. And they keep hurting themselves by allowing more third-period goals than anyone.18Predators · Trends19Pekka Rinne hasn’t been particularly sharp since the Olympic break ended and the Preds are feeling the heat from teams chasing them for a playoff spot.19Hurricanes · Trends18Jussi Jokinen is a big reason Carolina has been one of the league’s hottest teams, with 15 goals in his past 19 games.20Blues · Trends20St. Louis has been producing offense, scoring 27 times in winning six of the past seven.21Stars · Trends17The defense has looked awful in the Stars’ three losses since the Olympic break, allowing 17 goals.22Lightning · Trends22Seen Steven Stamkos lately? Tampa Bay’s super sophomore has a point in 16 straight games and could make a run at 50 goals.23Rangers · Trends23A sub-.500 record at home hurts as much as an offense that has only one goal in its past seven periods.24Wild · Trends24Guillaume Latendresse continues to be a much-needed offensive force for Minnesota with seven goals in his past nine games. 25Thrashers · Trends25The Thrashers are not helping their playoff chances by struggling against division rivals. Atlanta is 7-11-2 against Southeast teams.26Panthers · Trends26Another late-season charge in the offing? Those never work in Florida, but the Panthers scored 11 times to win twice in a row after the trade deadline passed.27Maple Leafs · Trends27Toronto’s power play continues to have problems, with no goals in its past 25 tries.28Islanders · Trends28John Tavares is finding it tougher as his rookie season wears on, with no goals in 17 games and only two in the past 34.29Blue Jackets · Trends29The initial bump from the coaching change has faded with the Jackets losing four in a row after winning their first three under Claude Noel.30Oilers · Trends30Good work in goal from Jeff Deslauriers gave the injury-challenged Oilers rare back-to-back wins over the weekend.

They trailed by two goals after two periods against Alex Ovechkin and the NHL-leading Washington Capitals, a team seemingly en route to a 14th consecutive home victory and fourth straight win overall. Plus, the Stars have been fading: Entering Monday, they were 0-3 and had been outscored 17-5 since the end of the Olympic break.

So much for all that. With Turco in the net on this night, anything was possible. He made a career-high 49 saves, and Dallas scored three times in six shots early in the third period, leading to a 4-3 shootout victory over Washington, despite two goals from Ovechkin.

“It’s not going to be every night that your goalie’s going to wear a mask and steal a game for you,” Dallas coach Marc Crawford said. “We needed a great goaltending performance tonight, and Marty was absolutely terrific. We love the fac and got a payoff.”

Turco’s save total doesn’t even include the shootout, which Dallas took 2-1. He blocked four of five attempts by Washington, including by Ovechkin and Alexander Semin, who seemed to fake himself out and fell down head-first into Turco.

“I think he was trying too hard,” Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said.

Brad Richards had a goal and an assist in regulation, plus one of Dallas’ two scores in the shootout. The other came from Loui Eriksson.

Ovechkin snapped a season-high, six-game goal drought and matched Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby for the league lead with 44.

His first goal Monday came on a power play in the second period, and Ovechkin celebrated by raising his stick, then throwing his head back and pumping both fists. Because of the time away for the Vancouver Games, he hadn’t scored an NHL goal in a month.

“He was frustrated the last few games. I told him this morning, ‘You’ve got to work harder,”‘ Boudreau said. “You saw it in the first two or three shifts in the game - he was trying to hit guys. He had his energy back. When he has his energy, well, he is what he is: the best player in the world.”

That may be, but Turco was the best player on the ice Monday, sprawling this way and that for a series of spectacular saves. Washington finished with 52 shots, twice as many as Dallas.

“I don’t care if I see one shot. It was all about the win,” Turco said. “We can use it to know we cannot only play with anybody, but win.”

Entering the third period, the hosts were dominating play, holding a 42-16 edge in shots, and had yet to be called for a penalty. But things changed quickly as Richards, Trevor Daley and James Neal all scored.

First, with Mike Green off for hooking, Richards connected on a slap shot from the right circle for his 18th goal of the season, 1:33 into the period. Then, with Matt Bradley in the penalty box for holding, Richards helped set up Daley’s fourth goal at the 4:46 mark.

And then, a little more than three minutes later, Neal netted his 25th. All in all, it was quite a quick turnaround. Consider: The Capitals last lost in Washington on Dec. 28, against Carolina. And Capitals goalie Semyon Varlamov entered the night 8-0-0 at home this season.

“When you come into a team with that much confidence, and that good in this building, I don’t mind saying that [Turco] has to be our best player probably on those nights,” Richards said. “We don’t have the talent to match up with them, line-for-line and player-for-player. Some nights, it should be called ‘goalie’ not ‘hockey.”‘

Notes Ovechkin’s 10 shots give him 307, his fifth consecutive season with that many. Turco made 43 saves against the Islanders in October 2001. LW Tomas Fleischmann , RW Scott Walker and D Shaone Morrisonn were healthy scratches for the roster-heavy Capitals, who already have been sitting extra parts LW Quintin Lang and D Tyler Sloan , along with injured D Milan Jurcina . Fleischmann ranks sixth on the team with 18 goals. “It’s just giving him a rest, because we’ve got 15 forwards,” Boudreau said. “I don’t like scratching him, either, but we want to get everybody involved. I mean, there’s still a lot of games left.”

Modin scored with the man advantage against his former club, Michal Handzus and Alexander Frolov scored power-play goals 41 seconds apart during a four-goal first period, and the Kings routed the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-0 on Monday night.

“It was a great opportunity for me to get a chance to be back in the playoffs again and be on a team that’s right in the mix,” Modin said. “The first three games have been really good for me. I’m getting some power-play time, and it’s a lot of fun.”

Rick Nash, the Blue Jackets’ leading goal scorer, left the game late in the first period because of an undisclosed lower-body injury.

Frolov also tied a career high with three assists, and the Kings also got goals from Wayne Simmonds, Drew Doughty and Brad Richardson to match their highest-scoring output of the season.

“Frolov played an outstanding game and gave us a big effort in all areas,” coach Terry Murray said. “His strength obviously is what we see ever his cycling and holding onto the puck in one-on-one situations. He was showing a complete game here tonight.”

Jonathan Quick earned his third shutout and seventh of his career while his teammates outshot Columbus 35-11. The fewest shots allowed by the Kings in a game was 10, in a 2-2 tie at San Jose on Jan. 11, 1994.

“The team did a tremendous job in front of me,” Quick said. “You’re trying to stay mentally focused because you don’t want to give them anything that they can build momentum off of. So you just try to make sure you shut the door when you’re called upon. We came out and played some desperate hockey after losing the last two games.”

Columbus didn’t get the man advantage for the first time until one of four power plays the Blue Jackets had in the third period. They were outshot 26-5 through the first two periods while the Kings built their 6-0 lead and equaled a season high with their three power-play goals.

“That was embarrassing,” forward R.J. Umberger said. “We didn’t play smart. We were our own worst enemies out there. We just need to use our heads and compete.”

The Blue Jackets, who scored first in each of their previous nine games, saw their franchise-record streak broken when Simmonds beat Steve Mason to the glove side with a short wrist shot at 5:49 of the opening period.

Doughty made it 2-0 at 13:24, blasting a one-timer past Mason’s glove from 25 feet after Handzus set him up in the slot with a pass from behind the net.

“We got off to a good start,” Modin said. “Then they took a lot of penalties that we were able to capitalize on early in the game and it kind of snowballed.”

The Kings added to their lead after Nash received a four-minute high-sticking penalty for cutting Rob Scuderi. Handzus banked the puck off Mason’s right leg and inside the left post 37 seconds after Nash went to the box. Frolov beat Mason to the glove side with a slap shot from the top of the left circle, using defenseman Marc Methot as a screen.

“If you want to have success on the power play, you have to shoot as often as you can. That’s what we tried to do tonight,” Frolov said. “The power play worked out great for us. We changed our mentality and put more pucks on the net. We knew we had to have a strong game tonight, especially from the beginning.”

Mason was pulled after facing 13 shots and was replaced by former Kings goalie Mathieu Garon. Only 65 seconds later, Columbus forward Mike Blunden checked Kings rookie Rich Clune into the boards from behind and received a five-minute major along with an automatic game misconduct.

Garon stopped all three shots during the ensuing power play, but Modin made it 5-0 at 4:20 of the second period with a short backhand that beat Garon to the stick side while Derek Dorsett was off for cross-checking Jarret Stoll.

The goal was Modin’s fourth in 27 games this season, and second in three games since the Kings acquired him from the Blue Jackets on Wednesday for a conditional seventh-round pick in the June draft.

“It’s always nice to score against your old team,” Modin said. “It feels really good on the line I’m playing on right now. Handzus is a great center. He’s able to hold onto the puck and find holes, and me and Simmer are just trying to get open for him to make some plays. So it’s been working pretty good so far.”

Notes

Los Angeles won the season series 3-1, taking the last three meetings after losing six of the previous seven. The Blue Jackets, who made the playoffs last season for the first time in franchise history, are 13 points out of a playoff spot with 16 games remaining. They are 3-3-2 since Ken Hitchcock was fired on Feb. 3 and replaced by Claude Noel.

Pavel Datsyuk capped a five-goal second period and Detroit rallied for a 5-4 victory over the Blackhawks on Sunday.

Ladd’s first goal of the game gave Chicago a 2-0 lead in the first period, but Detroit took charge in the second before Ladd added two more goals in the final period.

“They seemed to take it off the pedal a little there in the second and we took advantage of it,” Brian Rafalski said. “We got on a little bit of a roll there and just kept coming.”

Rafalski started the surge with a power play goal 4:12 into the second to cut the lead to 2-1. Nicklas Lidstrom, Jason Williams, Valtteri Filppula and Datsyuk followed with goals as the Red Wings won for the fourth time in five games.

Henrik Zetterberg and Todd Bertuzzi added two assists apiece.

The Red Wings, hampered by injuries early in the season, strengthened their grip on the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Detroit has won eight straight Central Division titles, and just might be finding their winning touch again.

“We came out and went to town in the second period,” goaltender Jimmy Howard said after making 28 saves. “We really played well in the neutral zone and counterattacked and got something on them.”

Defenseman Duncan Keith scored Chicago’s first goal, and after Ladd’s two third-period goals the Blackhawks missed on several opportunities to tie the score in the final seven minutes.

“We’ve got to play a 60-minute game instead of a 50,” Ladd said. “I dont know if we got too confident, maybe we think its an easy game. We stop working. We stop playing simple. We stop winning battles.”

Keith opened the scoring at 4:24 with his career-high 13th goal before Ladd made it 2-0, firing in a one-timer from the right circle off Filppula’s turnover.

The Blackhawks’ meltdown began after an apparent goal by Patrick Kane early in the second period was disallowed because Chicago’s Dustin Byfuglien bumped into Howard.

“It was huge,” Lidstrom said. “If they get that third one, it could be a different game. They gain a ton of momentum and we have to come from three down.”

Lidstrom got Detroit on the board from the high slot during a 4-on-3 power play, then Rafalski added a tying goal 28 seconds later. Despite a timeout by Chicago coach Joel Quenneville, the Red Wings were just getting started.

Williams and Filppula scored 42 seconds apart midway through the second period to give Detroit a 4-2 lead, and Datsyuk stole the puck at the blue line and added a breakaway goal with three seconds left in the period to make it 5-2.

Datsyuk has eight goals and 10 assists in his last 14 games.

Ladd added his second goal at 1:59 of the third, scoring from the right circle, and recorded his first hat trick on a deflection of Keith’s shot from the point with 7:54 remaining.

Chicago goalie Cristobal Huet allowed four goals on 17 shots before being replaced by Antti Niemi at 10:27 of the second period. Huet was making his third straight start after Niemi had been between the pipes the previous five games.

Niemi allowed one goal on eight shots.

“I’m not blaming Huet there,” Quenneville said. “I called the timeout and that didn’t seem to slow it down. [Detroit] got two tips on cross-ice passes.”

Notes

Bertuzzi suffered a lower-body injury late in the second period and didn’t return. Keith extended his points streak to six games for a career high. His career-high 59 points is second among NHL defensemen to Washington’s Mike Green. Kane had an assist to extend his point streak to eight games. He has four goals and nine assists in the span. The Blackhawks’ season-high crowd of 22,309 was their 84th straight sellout.

He certainly broke out of his slump in a big way. < and Vesa Toskala made 27 saves in his first start since being traded to Calgary as the Flames beat the Wild 5-2 on Sunday. Rene Bourque and Mark Giordano also scored for the Flames, who stayed within a point of Detroit for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Iginla hadn’t sco he had a hat trick in that game, too.

“I’d be lying if I said I was aiming those,” said Iginla, who assisted on last week’s gold medal-winning goal by Sidney Crosby for Canada against the United States. “I was really just trying to hit them hard, and fortunately, they came off the right way.”

He broke the drought with a slap shot that beat Niklas Backstrom to put the Flames up 3-1 in the second period. Iginla also scored in the third on another slap shot during a 5-on-3 power play, and added an empty-net goal with 1:33 left.

“I don’t know if there’s a goalie in the league that would’ve stopped that one,” Minnesota’s Greg Zanon said of Iginla’s second goal.

“He’s got that grit and intangibles of a great hockey leader, and he has an incredibly high offensive skill level,” said Scott Staios, who was traded to the Flames from Edmonton last week. “It’s nice being on this side of it, that’s for sure.”

Guillaume Latendresse scored both goals for the Wild, who entered in 12th place in the West and dug themselves a bigger hole with the Flames and Detroit both winning Sunday.

“Definitely making it harder,” Wild coach Todd Richards said. “But I don’t doubt this team, the players have shown over and over that dealing with adversity or bleak circumstances, they have been able to come through. I’m definitely not counting them out.”

Toskala was traded to Anaheim for J.S. Giguere on Jan. 31, and then to Calgary for Curtis McElhinney on March 3. He made his first start since Jan. 30, when he was still minding net for Toronto, playing in place of resting Olympian Miikka Kiprusoff. He looked solid in net for his new team, save for the couple of second-period goals by Latendresse, who has 21 goals in 39 games since being acquired by the Wild.

“He hasn’t played in a month, new team in the heart of a playoff race against somebody that is trying to catch us,” Iginla said. “There was definitely pressure on him, but he looked great.”

The crowd of 18,217 that gave the Wild franchise its 400th consecutive sellout went quiet early when Bourque tipped in Matt Stajan’s slap shot from the blue line only 19 seconds into the game. It was the quickest goal against the Wild at home in team history.

“We’re already chasing them there 19 seconds into the game,” Richards said.

The crowd groaned again later in the period when Giordano wristed a shot from the left circle past Backstrom after a nice feed from Iginla to make it 2-0.

But Minnesota pulled within a goal twice in the second period on Latendresse’s two scores.

The Wild cut the lead to 2-1 when Latendresse backhanded a pass from Martin Havlat past Toskala at the 9:53 mark. Then, after Iginla’s second-period goal, Brent Burns’ long pass found Latendresse ahead of all Calgary’s defenders on a breakaway. Latendresse slapped the puck from the left circle to beat Toskala and pull Minnesota to 3-2.

Notes

No other player has more than one hat trick against Minnesota. Toskala became the first Flames goalie other than Kiprusoff to start for Calgary against Minnesota since current Flames goalie coach Jamie McLennan. McLennan last started against the Wild on Nov. 7, 2003. Kiprusoff had started all 37 games versus the Wild since arriving in Calgary. Calgary scored at least three goals in back-to-back games for the fifth time this season. Latendresse has 14 goals at home for Minnesota this s Marian Gaborik had 28 in 2007-08 and Owen Nolan had 20 last season.

Jannik Hansen scored the go-ahead goal with just under six minutes left in the third period to lead the Canucks to a 4-2 victory over the Nashville Predators on Sunday.

Vancouver leads the NHL with nine victories this season when they trail after two period. They have scored 82 third-period goals this season, second only to Washington.

“We were down by a goal going into the third, and again, we found a way to get it done,” Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said.

Mikael Samuelsson, Alexander Edler and Henrik Sedin also scored for Vancouver, which has won three of its last four. The Canucks are 7-5-0 so far on their franchise-high 14-game road trip.

With the game tied at 2, Predators J.P. Dumont and Denis Grebeshkov collided in the neutral zone, and Kyle Wellwood saw an opening and found Hansen with a stretch pass.

“They seemed to fall on each other and there was a pileup,” Wellwood said. “It was a pretty easy pass. The first thing I noticed was the two guys on the ice at that point, both of my wingers were looking for a breakaway.”

Hansen had a breakaway on Nashville’s Pekka Rinne, who stopped the initial shot, but didn’t see the rebound lying by his right foot, and Hansen had an easy tap-in for his seventh goal.

“Wellwood made a nice cross-ice pass over their last guy, and I got a great break from the blue line,” Hansen said. “I tried to put it five-hole, but didn’t quite succeed, but luckily I got the rebound.”

Jason Arnott and Jordin Tootoo had goals for the Predators, who have dropped back-to-back games after winning their previous three.

Vancouver trailed 2-1 before Samulesson tied it midway through the third. Hansen put the Canucks ahead with 5:42 left, and Sedin sealed it with an empty-net goal with four seconds remaining.

Samuelsson had tied it just over four minutes earlier when his unscreened slap shot from the right half boards deflected off Rinne’s arm and into the goal at 9:59. It was Samuelsson’s career-high 24th goal, and he has scored in three consecutive games, and in five of his last six.

“It went off my arm and went in,” Rinne said. “It was a weak goal.”

Edler scored the game’s first goal at 11:10 of the opening period. From the right corner, Ryan Kesler found Edler all alone in the slot, and his wrist shot beat Rinne on the stick side. The goal was Edler’s first since Dec. 2, a span of 31 games.

The Predators lost for just the third time this season when leading after two periods.

“I thought we were pretty solid for the most part,” Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. “They’re going to get a few chances because they are a good team. We were in scramble mode after their second goal. With the third goal, you have to play with more risk to get it back.”

Arnott tied it at 1 on a power-play goal at 13:44. The Nashville captain has three goals in Nashville’s four games since the Olympic break. He has scored 14 of his 17 goals at home.

Tootoo gave the Predators a 2-1 lead with 12:35 left in the second period. He carried the puck into the Vancouver zone on the left side. His initial shot from the left faceoff dot was stopped by Roberto Luongo, but Tootoo was able to collect the rebound and flip the puck over Luongo’s right shoulder and into the net for his sixth goal.

Notes

Nashville D Shea Weber missed Sunday’s game with an upper-body injury sustained Friday night in Detroit. The Predators have scored at least one power-play goal in nine of their last 10 games. Kesler extended his career-best point scoring streak to nine games. The game concluded the regular-season series between the teams, with each team winning two of the four contests.