The Carolina Hurricanes came out on home ice in front of 16,837 on Monday night and totally dominated the Washington Capitals, 5-0, in what was probably their best game of the season.

The Hurricanes out-hit, out-shot, and just about "out-everythinged" the opposition on this night in a game that had fights, a shorthanded goal, and the first career NHL shutout for young goalie, Justin Peters.

The Canes jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, 3:41 into the game when Justin Faulk got behind the defense for another powerplay goal, his 6th overall goal of the season. Just 1:18 later, Anthony Stewart took a tipped Eric Staal pass and ripped in past Tomas Vokoun to make it 2-0 and send Vokoun to an early exit.

The score stayed at 2-0 until late in the period when Andreas Nodl scored on an odd man rush with just 30 seconds left to make it 3-0. Brandon Sutter set up the goal with a perfect pass.

The Hurricanes outshot the Caps 16-5 in that period and would continue the onslaught the rest of the way.

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The New York Islanders completed a season sweep of the Carolina Hurricanes with a 4-3 win on Saturday night at Nassau Coliseum. It was the first ever season sweep for the Islanders over the Carolina/Hartford franchise.

Once again, John Tavares played a major role in the outcome as he scored two goals and added an assist. Tavares had 12 points in his four games against Carolina this season.

Cam Ward left the game after the second period and reportedly has a lower body concern. Justin Peters played the third and allowed the game winner to Tavares just seconds into the final period.

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The Carolina Hurricanes withstood a furious third period rally to pick up another win at home as they defeated the San Jose Sharks, 3-2 on Friday night in front of a sell out crowd at the RBC. The Canes now have a 10-3-1 record in their last 14 home games. They have also earned points in 10 of their last 11 contests overall.

Justin Peters picked up his first win of the season with a solid 35 save performance. It was also the first win for a Carolina backup goalie in over a year, (January 9, 2011).

The Canes jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, despite only putting seven shots on goal. The Sharks, who had played the night before in Tampa, had just six shots for the period.

Jeff Skinner got the scoring started for the home team when he sent the puck toward the crease from a sharp angle which bounced in the net off of a San Jose defenseman. Jussi Jokinen picked up the only assist on the play.

Then during a powerplay, Carolina used a similar play which was successful in Montreal when Justin Faulk skated behind the San Jose defense. Jiri Tlusty found him with a perfect pass and Faulk made no mistake with the shot. The goal was Faulk's third powerplay goal of the season and fifth overall.

After a scoreless second period, the Sharks threw everything but the kitchen sink at the Canes in the third and outshot the home team by an 18-6 margin. Before the first four minutes of the period were completed, the score was tied and the Sharks were smelling blood. But the defense tightened and Peters would make some nice saves down the stretch to keep his team in it.

Jokinen would tip in the eventual game winner 11:55 into the third off of a Jamie McBain shot. The Sharks again battled hard to tie the score, but were unable to solve the Peters one more time. The game ended with much action around the Carolina net.

The Canes left right after the game to travel for tomorrow night's match against the Islanders on Long Island.

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Team Captain Eric Staal had two goals and an assist while leading the Carolina Hurricanes to a 5-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Monday night at the Belle Centre. The Canes jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but allowed three straight goals to the Habs in the second period before scoring three in a row themselves in the third to close out the home team.

Jiri Tlusty started things off and stretched his scoring streak to five games as he tipped in a Bryan Allen shot just 3:09 into the game. Then to start off the second period, the Canes scored their first powerplay goal in eight games with some perfect passing when Jussi Jokinen fed the puck to Jeff Skinner, who then found Jaroslav Spacek skating in alone behind the defense. It was Tlusty's 13th and Spacek's 2nd of the season.

But the rest of the second period was all Montreal.

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After another very slow start, Jiri Tlusty tied the game in the second period and Jeff Skinner netted the game winner in the third as the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Los Angeles Kings Saturday night, 2-1 in front of an announced sell out crowd of 18,680 at the RBC.

The Canes were very sluggish in the opening period and managed only four shots on goal, even though they had two powerplay opportunities. The Kings took a 1-0 lead on a shot by Anze Kopitar, but Tim Gleason took down Kyle Clifford near the end of the first as both received fighting majors and Tlusty ignited the crowd with a tremendous play at 15:40 into the second.

Tlusty blocked a shot at the blue line and used his speed to get past the defense in a race to the puck at center ice. From the slot area he put a perfect shot past goalie Jonathan Bernier to tie things up.

Skinner then made a series of good plays leading to his goal at 3:02 in the third. First he kept the puck alive behind the net. As Drayson Bomwn passed it to Jussi Jokinen, last year's Calder winner then went to the front of the net where he dug out Jokinen's rebound and slid it past Bernier for the winner.

It was his 15th of the season.

The Kings would battle as best they could the rest of the way, but Cam Ward was on his game and made 24 saves on a game total of 25 shots for Los Angeles.

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Cam Ward earned his third shutout of the season and the Carolina Hurricanes swept their season series with the Boston Bruins with a 3-0 win on Thursday night in Boston. It was the first season sweep over the Bruins in franchise history for the Canes.

The Hurricanes scored a goal in each period and according to coach Kirk Muller, played one their best games of the season. While the Bruins dominated the shots on goal stat early, (22 shots in the first period), the Canes actually had more scoring chances and took advantage of them.

Eric Staal scored the first goal, Tuomo Ruutu made a nifty backhander for the second, and Brandon Sutter scored the third. Sutter made a great play on the puck, taking it away from the Boston defense, which set up Ruutu's goal.

In all, Ward made 47 saves on the night. The goalie was quick to praise his defense after the game because there were few second chances for the Bruins to take advantage of.

Cory will have the game analysis up shortly.

The Canes travel back home to battle the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night.

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John Tavares scored two goals and chipped in with two assists as the New York Islanders defeated the Carolina Hurricanes, 5-2 in front of 15,575 on Tuesday night at the RBC.

In the first two periods, the Canes were off to a bit of a slow start, with the help of four penalties called against them. The visitors held a 2-0 lead going into the third period and were outshooting the home team by a 18-13 margin.

But Carolina would come roaring back in the third as they tied the game after scoring twice early in the period. First, Brandon Sutter lifted a perfect backhander over New York goalie Kevin Poulin. Poulin looked very strong in this game and made a couple of key saves throughout, but he was never really pushed hard in this one.

Tim Brent evened the score with a powerplay tally at 6:55 into the third when he banked the puck in off of an Islander player from behind the net.

It looked like the Hurricanes had all the momentum at that time, but Tavares came right back the very next shift and beat the defense down the ice for an open chance at Ward. He made no mistake and netted the game winner.

The Islanders would score two empty-netters to seal the deal in the final minute and a half of the game.

The Canes will travel to Boston tomorrow for a game against the Bruins on Thursday night.

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One strong period was all the Hurricanes needed Monday night as they welcomed the Winnipeg Jets to the RBC Center for the final game before the All-Star break. The Canes beat Jets goaltender Chris Mason on two of their first four shots, and those markers held up as the Canes won 2-1 on the strength of goals by Jeff Skinner and Tim Brent in front of 16,045 on Teacher Appreciation Night.

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