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Cole's OT winner lifts Hurricanes over Atlanta

Jan 9, 2011 - 11:31 PM Raleigh, NC (Sports Network) - Erik Cole's tally at 2:09 of overtime sent Carolina past Atlanta, 4-3, at RBC Center.

Jeff Skinner, Tuomo Ruutu and Zac Dalpe all tallied in regulation for the Hurricanes, who have won five of their last seven.

Justin Peters stopped 25-of-28 shots to earn his third win in four starts.

Bryan Little scored a pair of goals for the Thrashers, who made a better showing than in their 9-3 home loss to Toronto on Friday but lost for the seventh time in 10 contests.

"We're very proud of the way the boys fought back," Atlanta head coach Craig Ramsay said. "We're down significantly again and we fought back from the tough one the other night."

Niclas Bergfors also lit the lamp but Ondrej Pavelec allowed four goals on 34 shots for his second straight defeat.

Cole's game-winner occurred on a second-chance rebound. After his partial breakaway was turned aside by Pavelec, the rebound rolled to the left wing near the goal line. Cole was able to retrieve the puck, skate in front and score inside the left post.

Their defenseman just overskated the puck and we were able to jump on it," said Cole. "I just tried to snap it on the net and beat him on the short side."

Carolina was given a power play less than a minute in, and converted at 1:20 when Joe Corvo carried up the middle for nearly the length of the ice and waited until the last minute to feed Ruutu for an easy score.

Atlanta tied the game when Little pumped home a power-play goal at 11:46 when he beat Peters with a wraparound.

The 'Canes went up 3-1 early in the second period after Dalpe tallied at even strength less than four minutes in and Skinner scored on the advantage at 5:33, but Bergfors brought the visitors within a goal at 7:57 on a power play wrister.

Little knotted the game just past the midway point of the third period with a slick wrister over Peters' glove and under the crossbar.

Game Notes

The Hurricanes have won both meetings this season and five of six over the Thrashers since last January...Corvo notched a pair of assists for Carolina, and Tobias Enstrom added two helpers for Atlanta...Prior to the game, the Thrashers placed forward Evander Kane on injured reserve and recalled forwards Spencer Machacek and Tim Stapleton from Chicago of the AHL...The Hurricanes assigned defenseman Brett Carson to Charlotte of the AHL...Carolina forward Eric Staal played in his 520th game with the franchise, tying him with Sami Kapanen for seventh all-time.