RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- The Carolina Hurricanes were an unlikely candidate to knock off the hottest team in hockey Friday night.

After all, the Hurricanes played without captain and leading scorer Ron Francis (back spasms) and two other injured defensemen. But Carolina got a goal 16 seconds into overtime from Jeff O'Neill for a 4-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils.

	Devils goalie Chris Terreri gets some defensive help as he stops a shot from Carolina's Bates Battaglia on Friday night.

"You might think it is a little intimidating, but we had a game plan and we stuck to it," O'Neill said of Carolina's injuries. "We wanted to keep things simple. We didn't want to have too many turnovers."

New Jersey's Petr Sykora scored with 6:08 left in regulation to tie the score at 3-all, but O'Neill took the puck from Scott Niedermayer at the blue line and broke in free on Chris Terreri, beating him low between the legs.

"When I was on my way into the net (the puck) was bobbling all over the place and I actually tried to go top glove and it squirted through his legs," O'Neill said of his team-leading fifth game-winning goal. "It was kind of a missed shot, but I'll take it."

O'Neill's goal was the fastest overtime goal in franchise history, topping Brian Propp's game-winner in 20 seconds in 1993 against Ottawa.

The victory by Carolina snapped New Jersey's six-game road winning streak and improved its record to 3-0-12 in its last 15 overtime games. It was also the team's second overtime win within the first minute of the extra period on its five-game homestand.

"It's the time of year for us when every win is important," said O'Neill, who netted his 15th of the season to move Carolina within one point of playoff contention in the Eastern Conference.

Patrick Elias assisted on Sykora's 16th goal to extend his team-record point streak to 15 straight games. That also tied the NHL high, set earlier in the season by Jaromir Jagr of Pittsburgh and Pierre Turgeon of St. Louis.

The Hurricanes, who had lost six of eight, rallied from a pair of one-goal deficits to take a 3-2 lead on goals by Sami Kapanen and Robert Kron four minutes apart in the second period, but couldn't hold the lead against the hottest team in hockey.

New Jersey coach Robbie Ftorek said his team played a pair of poor periods before turning it on late.

"It's hard to play one period intense and win a game," he said.

Each team went without one of its better players. New Jersey rested goaltender Martin Brodeur, who leads the NHL with 30 wins, while Carolina went without Francis.

"Maybe they took us lightly," Carolina's Paul Coffey said of the Devils, who play Western Conference leader Detroit on Saturday. "We'll take the two points, they really don't need them."

Claude Lemieux scored his 17th of the season halfway through the first period, taking a nifty backhanded pass from Brendan Morrison and sliding a backhander of his own off the post and past Irbe.

The Hurricanes countered 12 seconds later as Tommy Westlund netted his third of the year, bagging the puck past Terreri during a scramble in front of the net.

The Devils won a faceoff deep in Carolina territory late in the first to take a 2-1 lead. Bobby Holik got the draw to the left of Irbe then tipped in a shot from Odelein with 1:39 left. The goal was Holik's 17th of the season.