Jeff O’Neill drops in his fifth goal in four games for Carolina.
By The Associated Press

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – A revitalized Jeff O’Neill scored his fifth goal in four games late in the second period to give the Carolina Hurricanes a 2-1 win over the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night.

Josef Vasicek also scored and Kevin Weekes made 20 saves as the Hurricanes snapped a two-game losing streak and won for only the second time in seven games (2-4-1).

Jeff Friesen scored for New Jersey, which also got a stellar 21-save performance from Martin Brodeur in his first appearance in three games.

The two-game rest was the longest for Brodeur since he missed two games with the flu in the 1997-98 season.

O’Neill got his second game-winner in four games with 1:55 left in the second period. He took a pass from Pavel Brendl in the slot and snapped a shot past Brodeur for his 10th goal.

O’Neill also put a shot into an empty net a split-second after the final horn.

After failing to score in the opening 32 minutes, the teams traded goals in a 21-second span in the second period.

Vasicek opened the scoring at 12:26 by taking a cross-ice pass from Ron Francis and hitting a virtually open net for his 13th goal.

Maple Leafs 3, Capitals 2

WASHINGTON – Alexei Ponikarovsky, who has scored four of his seven NHL goals against Olaf Kolzig, beat the goaltender twice in the third period Wednesday night to give the Toronto Maple Leafs a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals.

Ponikarovsky’s slap shot from just inside the blue line trickled past Kolzig to break a 1-1 tie 3:43 into the final period. The Ukrainian left wing made it a two-goal lead at 8:28, finishing off a nice one-two with Tomas Kaberle.

Ponikarovsky scored his first NHL goal against Kolzig and the Capitals on Feb. 1, 2001. He has scored four goals this season, including three against Washington.

Trent Whitfield and Peter Bondra scored for the Capitals, whose season-high five-game point streak came to an end. Bondra’s power-play goal with 5:40 remaining made it a one-goal game.

Blue Jackets 3, Blues 1

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Manny Malhotra scored two third-period goals to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets past the St. Louis Blues 3-1 Wednesday night.

Picked up on waivers from Dallas in November, Malhotra has found a home on the Blue Jackets’ third line. He has scored seven goals for Columbus, one fewer than his career best. The two in one game are a career high.

The win kept Columbus interim coach Gerard Gallant unbeaten at home (2-0-1) and ended the Blues’ six-game winning streak over the Blue Jackets.

Avalanche 6, Panthers 5

SUNRISE, Fla. – Alex Tanguay’s third goal of the game with 5:41 left gave the streaking Colorado Avalanche a 6-5 come-from-behind victory over the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night.

Milan Hejduk, Joe Sakic and Andrei Nikolishin also scored for Colorado, which rallied from 3-0 and 4-3 deficits.

Colorado is tied with Toronto for the most points in the NHL (63). The Avalanche is 10-1-0-1 in their last 12.

Stephen Weiss and Valeri Bure each had a goal and two assists, and Juraj Kolnik, Pavel Trnka and Marcus Nilson also scored for the Panthers, who lost for the seventh time in games it led by at least two goals.

Wild 4, Blackhawks 2

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Jim Dowd put in the rebound of his own slap shot to break a tie with 15.5 seconds left and lift the Minnesota Wild to a 4-2 victory over the road-weary Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night. Richard Park had two goals, including an empty-netter on the faceoff following Dowd’s score, and Pascal Dupuis also had a goal for Minnesota, which avoided a league-high 15th tie.

Dowd and Park scored just three seconds apart to break the NHL record for fastest two goals by a team. Five teams held the previous record of four seconds.

Dwayne Roloson had 29 saves for the Wild, who won for the fourth time in 17 games (4-4-9).

Sharks 4, Coyotes 2

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Vesa Toskala made 26 saves and held an opponent to fewer than three goals for the 14th time in 16 games, helping the surging San Jose Sharks beat the Phoenix Coyotes 4-2 Wednesday night.

Nils Ekman had a goal and an assist, and Scott Hannan, Jonathan Cheechoo and Alexander Korolyuk also scored. San Jose is 12-2-1-1 since Dec. 18 and beat division leaders Vancouver, Colorado and Detroit before playing the Coyotes.

Paul Mara broke up Toskala’s shutout bid with 9:34 left, but Korolyuk answered with 3:56 to go, rendering meaningless a power-play goal by Phoenix’s Shane Doan in the final minute.

Sean Burke stopped 34 shots, but the Coyotes remained winless in five games (0-3-2) after winning a season-high five straight on the strength of Brian Boucher’s five consecutive shutouts.