WASHINGTON - Cory Stillman, Eric Staal and Erik Cole had gone a combined 18 games without a goal when Carolina Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette put them back together as a line for Friday's game against the Washington Capitals.

Cole took less than four minutes to end his nine-game drought, starting the scoring in a 2-1 win on Friday.

"The bottom line is we executed," Cole said. "We might have been sitting back too much in the third period instead of going at them, but other than that we played the style that we wanted to play."

The Canes went into Friday with only one goal over the past two games and had chances to score more Friday -- something Laviolette was hoping to see as the Capitals pushed forward in the final moments.

"I'd like four or five, but it's a win and that's the only thing that matters," Laviolette said. "We played hard and tried to do the right things. An awful lot went against us tonight."

While Cole ended his drought, Stillman has gone six games without a goal and Staal five. After going into the All-Star break on a five-game point streak, Staal hasn't recorded a point in the five games since.

ALL OVER OVECHKIN: The Canes made it their mission to stop Washington's Alex Ovechkin, who came into the game as the NHL's leading scorer with 46 goals and 73 points but was held without a point for the fifth time in the past 23 games and 11th time this season.

"There's no question he's one of the elite players in the league," Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward said. "We went through a lot of video and to be quite honest he was a lot of our focus and what we needed to do to shut him down. We made it difficult for him. We took away his time and space. He had to earn every shot he had on net."

The Canes paid particular attention to Ovechkin on the power play, playing him more closely on the perimeter.

"On the PK, we were keying on him a little more," Carolina defenseman Mike Commodore said. "He's leading in goal-scoring by a landslide. We tried to take him away and force somebody else to beat us. We were a little more conscious of him on the ice."

SOUTHEAST SHUFFLE: With the top four teams separated by three points -- and the Tampa Bay Lightning only seven back in last place -- the Southeast Division title will likely be decided in the final two weeks of the season.

Carolina's final eight games are against division opponents, two against each team. They're 10-8-1 against the division this season.

"There will probably be a lot of movement in our division and the conference and that's just the way it's going to be," Laviolette said. "We know it. We're ready for it. This is our playoffs."

CULLEN PROGRESS: Matt Cullen (distorted vision) reported progress from his post-practice workout Thursday, although he remains out for at least another week.

Dennis Seidenberg (ankle) is not likely to return to the lineup before the team returns home from the road Thursday, although Saturday's game is more likely.