An unlucky 13

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Ruutu returning to form

Tuomo Ruutu is back to skating and barreling around the ice and hitting everything in sight.

In other words, Ruutu being Ruutu.

Will that mean the Carolina Hurricanes will get back to winning? It takes more than one player at his best to end a 14-game winless streak that has tied the franchise record set in 1992.

Ruutu helps Hurricanes defeat Stars

Tuomo Ruutu scored his first career hat trick, and Ray Whitney provided some unintentional late-game suspense Wednesday night in trying to get Ruutu that first hat trick.

But for the Carolina Hurricanes, a 5-3 win over the Dallas Stars at the RBC Center was more a matter of starting well, finishing well and leaving the rink with smiles all around. And, this season, that has been a rarity.

While Ruutu was the headliner, Eric Staal had a goal, two assists and one of his best defensive efforts. Jussi Jokinen had a goal and assist, defensemen Joni Pitkanen and Bryan Rodney two assists apiece, and goaltender Cam Ward picked up his first victory since Oct. 9 against the Florida Panthers.

Predators feast on Hurricanes

The Carolina Hurricanes had some flashes of good play and did some good things Friday in their first preseason exhibition game.

Erik Cole and Eric Staal scored goals. Zach Boychuk brought some energy, and Tuomo Ruutu was feisty. And Cam Ward made some nice saves in goal.

But there were also a few too many poor passes, sloppy turnovers, defensive lapses, mishandled pucks and missed opportunities on the power play, and it all added up to a 4-2 loss to the Nashville Predators at the RBC Center.

Canes make it 13 straight

RALEIGH -- Tuomo Ruutu, sweat dripping off his forehead, had tried his best to explain and analyze and the Carolina Hurricanes' latest loss.

The Los Angeles Kings had finished off the Canes 5-2 Wednesday night at the RBC Center, pushing Carolina's winless streak to 13 games. For those wondering, that's one game shy of the franchise record.

Ruutu had scored twice as the Hurricanes rallied for a 2-2 tie early in the third period, not that he cared about such individual things. He had talked about the bounces and penalties, about the Kings' two power-play scores and how the Canes battled hard in the final two periods -- although not all of the first -- and had lost again.

Canes finally win

Victory. At last.

The Carolina Hurricanes, a team that seemed to have forgotten how to win, finally found a way. After going 14 games without a victory, tying the franchise record, the Canes pulled one out Sunday in a tense but thrilling fashion against the Minnesota Wild.

Not that it came easily. Oh, no. The Hurricanes lost a 4-1 lead to the Wild, battled gamely through an overtime period, then won 5-4 in a shootout on Jussi Jokinen's goal.