RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Defeating Carolina sure beat playing cards and watching movies for the Phoenix Coyotes.

In a rare weekday afternoon game, Travis Green, Mika Alatalo and Keith Tkachuk scored 6½ minutes apart in the second period as the Coyotes won their third straight, 4-2 over the Hurricanes on Thursday.

	Carolina's Robert Kron fails to find an opening on Phoenix goaltender Sean Burke.

A 20-inch snowstorm paralyzed the area and forced the postponement of the game, originally scheduled for Tuesday night. The snow stranded the Coyotes in their hotel -- only three miles from the arena -- for more than two days.

"The hotel ran out of beer pretty early so that was that," Phoenix goaltender Sean Burke said. "We were bored, but it was good for us. We needed some rest. Maybe it came at a good time."

Phoenix coach Bob Francis added that his team took advantage of some much-needed bonding time to win its first road game since Jan. 4 at Detroit.

"It could have been worse. You could have been doing it with your in-laws," Francis said, joking. "It gave us some time to be alone. Travel is different in Phoenix. You are there by yourself a lot. You don't get to go on the road a lot and spend quality time together. That was the case here."

Carolina's goodwill gesture of 2-for-1 tickets and complimentary ones to a pair of upcoming games was greeted with a crowd of 9,675, who braved icy roads to head to the Raleigh Entertainment and Sports Arena.

Phoenix had been in town since Monday afternoon, but couldn't leave for its game Wednesday in Atlanta since Raleigh-Durham International Airport was closed, prompting Thursday's makeup with the Hurricanes.

"Let me tell you, we can't get out of here fast enough," Phoenix center Jeremy Roenick said.

Burke, the former Carolina Hurricanes goaltender, was the main story, improving to 6-1-2 in his last nine games in net for the Coyotes, stopping 30 of 32 shots.

"He was awesome," Carolina's Gary Roberts said. "Sean Burke has come up with some big games in his career and any time you have a former goaltender playing against you, he wants to have a big game and he did."

Less than five minutes in, Burke make a fabulous glove save from point blank range on Sami Kapanen, then kept his team's two-goal lead despite a late flurry by Carolina.

"That was the best save I have ever seen," Roenick said of the Kapanen shot. "I've seen some comparable, but none better."

Both teams must have had cabin fever, firing a combined 25 shots on net in a fast-paced first period. Carolina's 14 shots tied for third-most in a period this season.

After a 1-1 first period, the second-highest scoring team in the Western Conference took control to win its NHL-best 13th road game. The win also moved Phoenix ahead of Dallas by one point and into first place in the Pacific Division.

Green scored his 17th of the season 4:43 into the second before Andrei Kovalenko countered for the Hurricanes. But Alatalo and Tkachuk scored two minutes apart midway through the period for a 4-2 Coyotes lead.

Tkachuk's power-play goal on a nice give-and-go play with Jeremy Roenick was his 21st of the season. Phoenix is 15-1-1 in games Tkachuk scores.

Juha Ylonen scored his fifth of the season 6:10 into the game as he broke down the slot untouched and beat Arturs Irbe low.

The Hurricanes tied it at 1-1 five minutes later on a Martin Gelinas tip-in.