By The Associated Press

BOSTON – It didn’t take long for Doug Weight to have an impact on the Carolina Hurricanes.

Weight, playing in just his second game for Carolina, scored the game-winning goal in the shootout to lift the surging Hurricanes to a 4-3 win over the Boston Bruins on Sunday.

Carolina goalie Martin Gerber, who stopped three shots during the shootout, stuffed a Sergei Samsonov attempt to secure the win. He had 24 saves in regulation and overtime.

“Martin made a few big stops when we needed him to,” Carolina left wing Erik Cole said. “He’s been doing a great job, especially in penalty shots.”

Ray Whitney shot between Boston goalie Tim Thomas’ legs for the first goal of the shootout. But after Gerber turned away Patrice Bergeron and Glen Murray, Brad Boyes scored for Boston to force another round.

Weight, who was traded from the St. Louis Blues to the Hurricanes last Monday, scored on Carolina’s next opportunity.

Carolina improved to 5-1 in shootouts, while Boston fell to 0-5.

“We have guys that are capable of scoring,” Boston coach Mike Sullivan said. “For whatever reason, we haven’t had success in shootouts.”

Eric Staal had a goal and an assist and Cory Stillman added a pair of assists for the Hurricanes, who improved to 2-1-0 on their four-game road trip.

Carolina, which lost to New Jersey 3-0 Friday, recovered from a pair of one-goal deficits to win for 15th win in 17 games. The Hurricanes have the best record in the NHL and haven’t lost consecutive games since losing three straight Nov. 19-22.

“Whether we’re up a goal or down a goal, we kept coming,” Stillman said. “It goes to show you what our team is made of.”

Brad Stuart forced overtime when he took a nifty pass from P.J. Axelsson and fired a slap shot to the left of Gerber 17:55 into the third period. Milan Jurcina also assisted on the goal, which was Stuart’s eighth of the season.

Carolina outshot Boston 7-0 in overtime and Frantisek Kaberle hit the left post on a 3-on-1 in the closing seconds of overtime before the Hurricanes won 2-1 in the shootout.

The Bruins lost their second consecutive game after winning five of six. Thomas had 40 saves, but fell to 7-2-1 since getting called up from Providence on Jan. 10.

Thomas saved all nine shots he faced in the first period to help the Bruins go up 1-0. But the Hurricanes outshot Boston 18-4 in the second period, scoring twice.

“I can’t say enough about (Thomas),” Boston defender Nick Boynton said. “He’s been playing great. He makes key saves when he has to give us a shot.”

Staal took a Stillman pass and fired a slap shot past Thomas from the middle of the right circle 3:23 into the third period to put the Hurricanes up 3-2.

Staal, who has four goals and six assists in the last seven games and 34 goals on the season, also assisted on Cole’s game-tying goal late in the second period.

Less than a minute after Boyes’ 16th of the season gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead, Cole backhanded a shot past Thomas to make it 2-2 15:23 into the second period.

“I thought we were pretty relentless,” Carolina coach Peter Laviolette said.

Glen Wesley’s second goal of the year tied it at 1 in the second period. Thomas made a pad save on a Chad LaRose slap shot, but Wesley poked the rebound past an outstretched Thomas and into the bottom right-hand corner of the net. Ward also assisted on the score.

A day after being shut out by the Montreal Canadiens, the Bruins spent most of the first period on the offensive.

Boston recorded 11 first-period shots and took a 1-0 lead when David Tanabe blasted a slap shot past Gerber 9:54 into the period. It was Tanabe’s second of the season.

Canadiens 5, Flyers 0

MONTREAL – Cristobal Huet recorded his second shutout in as many days, and Michael Ryder got his first career hat trick to lead the Montreal Canadiens to a 5-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday.

Huet, who got his first Montreal shutout in Saturday’s 2-0 win over Boston, made 25 saves to win consecutive games for the first time since March 9-10, 2004, when he was with Los Angeles and swept the Phoenix Coyotes in a back-to-back games.

The 30-year-old Frenchman posted his sixth career shutout while making his third straight start since replacing struggling starter Jose Theodore in three of the Canadiens’ previous four games.

The consecutive shutouts were the first by a Montreal goalie since Theodore accomplished the feat Feb. 5 and 7, 2002 with a pair of 1-0 wins in New Jersey and over Pittsburgh, respectively.

Ryder scored on a power play midway through the first to open, ending a personal seven-game goal drought in the process. He added his second of the game just 40 seconds into the third to put the Canadiens up 3-0 and got his third goal – his team-leading 23rd – on a 5-on-3 advantage at 16:52.

NBA

Rockets 93, Knicks 89

NEW YORK – Tracy McGrady scored 23 points and David Wesley added 19, including several key free throws late, to lead the Houston Rockets to a 93-89 win over the struggling New York Knicks on Sunday.

Yao Ming, in his fourth game back since missing 21 after toe surgery, looked to have shaken off any lingering effects of the injury and had 15 points. Houston’s record is 12-6 when he and McGrady play. McGrady had missed five games with back spasms.

With both its stars healthy, Houston has won three straight for the first time since it captured five in a row from Dec. 6-15.

The Knicks had a chance to tie with 6.9 seconds left, but a 3-pointer by Jalen Rose was partially blocked and fell short. Wesley, who made four free throws in the last 23 seconds, hit his final one with 3 seconds remaining to ensure the victory.

Clippers 115, Raptors 113

TORONTO – Elton Brand scored 30 points, Sam Cassell added 27, and the Los Angeles Clippers moved 11 games over .500 for the first time in team history with a 115-113 overtime victory over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday.

Cassell sent the game into overtime with a 3-pointer and scored six points in the extra period. Cuttino Mobley scored 20 points and Chris Kaman had 16 points and 15 rebounds for the Clippers.

The franchise hasn’t been 11 games over the break-even mark since the Buffalo Braves were 30-19 on Jan. 28, 1976.

Chris Bosh had 29 points, 16 rebounds and six assists, but he missed three jumpers in the final minute of overtime, including a potential tying one as time expired.

Kings 96, Jazz 78

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Mike Bibby scored 23 points, Kevin Martin added 20 and the Sacramento Kings hit more than enough field goals in the fourth quarter of a 96-78 victory over the Utah Jazz on Sunday.

Ron Artest scored nine points for the Kings, who rebounded just fine from a humiliating 0-for-20 shooting performance in the fourth quarter in Salt Lake City two days earlier.

Sacramento managed just 12 points on free throws while blowing a 12-point lead in an 89-79 defeat.

Kenny Thomas, who scored 10 points and led a strong rebounding game with nine boards, made sure the Kings wouldn’t repeat the debacle with a fierce dunk on Sacramento’s opening possession of the fourth.

Rookie Francisco Garcia, who had X-rays on his hand at halftime, added back-to-back 3-pointers to stretch the Kings’ lead to 73-58, and they never let up in the final minutes of their fifth straight home victory. Garcia scored nine of his 11 points in the fourth.

Mehmet Okur had 25 points and eight rebounds for the Jazz, who have lost four of six. They had their own offensive issues this time, going scoreless for nearly 6 minutes in the second quarter before falling irretrievably behind when they couldn’t score in the first 3:45 of the fourth.

Sacramento hasn’t lost at home since Jan. 8, but is 1-6 on the road in that stretch.

The Kings played without starters Bonzi Wells and Brad Miller while both nursed minor injuries. Artest started despite a bruised hip, hitting two 3-pointers and leading a strong defensive effort in his fifth game with the Kings.

Bibby hit two of Sacramento’s 10 3-pointers, while Martin had another strong outing in Wells’ absence, attacking the basket while going 7-for-9. The second-year guard might be edging out Wells, a soon-to-be free agent, in Sacramento’s plans for next season.

Miller sat out his third straight game with a broken right thumb, while Wells rested his torn groin muscle again after playing in the last two games. Wells missed 19 games before his return last Tuesday.

Coach Rick Adelman went with a physical lineup in Miller’s absence, giving key playing time to veterans Corliss Williamson and Brian Skinner. Skinner provided eight points in the fourth quarter and heady defense against Okur, who wasn’t his usual effective self.

Matt Harpring scored 14 points in a reserve role, but Andrei Kirilenko was limited to 12 points on 5-of-13 shooting.

Notes: Williamson hit the fifth 3-pointer of his career in the final seconds of the first quarter, improving to 5-for-41 in his 11 NBA seasons. … Referee Bernie Fryer hit Shareef Abdur-Rahim with a technical foul in the first quarter for nothing more than a vehement hand gesture. Abdur-Rahim’s broken jaw makes verbal arguments rather difficult. … Utah G Gordan Giricek missed his third straight game with a left ankle injury. He didn’t travel to Sacramento with the team.

AP-ES-02-05-06 1756EST