Uniondale, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Jiri Tlusty scored a pair of goals, Eric Staal had two assists and the Carolina Hurricanes held on for a 4-3 win over the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum.
Jordan Staal and Jeff Skinner also tallied for the Hurricanes, who have won two straight on the heels of a three-game skid. Cam Ward made 22 saves in the victory.
"We took some questionable penalties in the third that put us in a position that we don't want to be in late," Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller said. "But other than that, I thought we had a good effort."
Kyle Okposo, Matt Moulson and Frans Nielsen scored for the Islanders, losers in four of their last five. Evgeni Nabokov turned away 19 shots in the loss.
"We didn't deserve the game," Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. "We didn't start the game the way we needed to start. You watch the replay of the goals, just lack of effort on a few of them. You don't expect that out of individuals."
After a scoreless first period, the Hurricanes scored three goals in the second.
Tlusty opened up the scoring with a backhander 65 seconds into the frame. On a 3-on-2 rush, Staal hammered one off Nabokov's pads and Tlusty was there to clean up the miss for his first goal of the season.
Jordan Staal netted his first goal of the season 5 1/2 minutes later on the power play. Ryan Murphy fired a pass from the blue line to Staal, who was camped out on the left side of the net. Staal one-timed the disc into the back of the net for a two-goal advantage.
Skinner's backhander with just over 6 1/2 minutes remaining gave the Canes a 3-0 edge. After Tuomo Ruutu kept the puck inside the Islanders' zone, Riley Nash quickly passed it to Skinner, who made a move to the net and backhanded it in to make it 3-0.
Moulson got the Isles on the board with his power play marker with 67 seconds left in the period to make it 3-1. Moulson was there to pound Andrew MacDonald's drive from the point home.
Tlusty added a goal near the midway point of the third to make it a 4-1 game. On a 2-on-1 break, Tlusty ripped a wrister past Nabokov to make it a three- goal game.
The Islanders added two more goals. Nielsen potted a snap shot on the power play and Okposo scored with just over a minute left to account for the final difference.
Game Notes
The Hurricanes are 10-1-2 in the past 13 as the road team in this series ... Isles defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky left the game in the second period with a concussion.
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