Canes' winless streak reaches 14

RALEIGH -- There will be more talk of the Carolina Hurricanes' winless streak.

There has to be. It still continues after the Canes' 4-3 overtime loss to the New York Islanders on Friday at the RBC Center.

The Hurricanes can't escape the fact they have not won in 14 games, that they now have tied the franchise record for the longest winless streak. Unless they can beat the Minnesota Wild on Sunday at the RBC Center, the Canes will be holders of the franchise's worst such streak of futility.

But the loss to the Islanders was a bit easier to take. Just a bit. Kyle Okposo's goal with 14.4 seconds left in overtime, after he picked off defenseman Bryan Rodney's cross-ice pass in the Carolina zone, left the Hurricanes again with a lot of long faces as they skated off the ice.

"To fight back in a game like that, it's a tough one to take," Rodney said. "Obviously, the mistake I made there at the end cost us. To do that to the rest of the guys in the room is tough to swallow.

"But I guess we'll look at the positives. We fought hard to get back in the game and we earned that point tonight."

Consider that the Hurricanes (2-12-4) trailed 3-0 after the first, allowing two power-play goals after a pair of penalties against defenseman Tim Gleason that had everyone on the Carolina bench steaming. But goals by Tuomo Ruutu and Ray Whitney in the second got the Canes back into the game and their fans back into the game.

When Gleason slammed a shot from the point past Isles goaltender Martin Biron with 2:31 left in the third, it was a 3-3 tie. But the Canes also came inches away from losing in regulation with six seconds left when the Isles' Matt Moulson got his stick on the puck in front of the net, only to have Canes goaltender Manny Legace do the same at the goal line.

A regulation loss would have been the Canes' eighth in a row - and no point. This could be something to build on.

"Once we got going in the second period, we were pretty dominant," said Brandon Sutter, who centered the Canes' top line and had a pair of assists. "I think we, for the most part, carried the play and you could see us starting to come back. We're getting closer and closer."

With less than minute to play in overtime, Ruutu made a centering pass to Rodney in the slot. But Biron, who had 25 saves, made solid stops on two attempts by Rodney, who was playing his second game since being called up from Albany of the AHL and had a strong game.

"That was kind of a blind play," Rodney said. "I didn't see it until it was almost on my stick, so I didn't get good wood on it. You miss on that one and the next time they get a chance."

Okposo missed the Isles' last game because of the H1N1 virus. But the forward quickly swept in to pick off Rodney's pass and fire a low shot past Legace, who was making his second start.

Gleason was called for a roughing penalty, then an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty at 2:54 of the first. The Isles converted on both power plays, with rookie forward John Tavares scoring the first of his two goals and defenseman Mark Streit scoring the other.

"He doesn't take a lot of stupid penalties," Canes coach Paul Maurice said of Gleason. "An unsportsmanlike usually doesn't come that early in a game."

Tavares' second goal, at 13:41 of the first, made it 3-0 and the Canes again were in a big hole.

After Ruutu ended the Canes' 0-for-24 power-play streak, and Whitney scored on a tip-in of an Andrew Alberts shot, Carolina had 3:26 of power-play time to begin the third period - the Isles' Blake Comeau high-sticked Erik Cole late in the second. But Carolina could not score, allowing the Isles to regroup.

"The fight was there from the start," Maurice said. "We got some really good efforts from a lot of players.

"That was as close to a hard-fought game as we've had. Those guys, most of them played as hard as they can."

But the Hurricanes didn't win. That will have to come another day.