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Tuesday, Nov. 30 7:30pm ET
O'Neill has two goals, two assists | |||||
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BOX SCORE
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Jeff O'Neill has carried around the tag of unfulfilled potential during his first four seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes. That's beginning to change. O'Neill had two goals, including the game-winner, and two assists as the Hurricanes rallied to defeat the Calgary Flames 4-3 Tuesday night. "At the beginning of the year I said it was a two-way street," O'Neill said. "You've got to get the opportunity to play in situations and you have to make the most of them. "This organization has given me plenty of opportunities throughout the years and I know they've been waiting very patiently for me to play well for this team. I like to think I've been doing that lately." O'Neill's eighth goal of the season, with 6:18 left, helped the Hurricanes erase a 3-1 deficit and win for the first time this season when trailing after two periods. O'Neill's second four-point night of the season gave him 18 points in 23 games. He scored only 31 points in 75 games last year. "Confidence is a word that is thrown around a lot, but now he doesn't have to spend any time or energy thinking about what he has to do defensively," coach Paul Maurice said of O'Neill. "As all young players will do, he needed time to learn the defensive part of the game." Meanwhile, Calgary ran its road-losing streak to five straight. The Flames are 0-4-2 in the last six games against the Hurricanes. "It's a game that we should have gotten something out of," Calgary coach Brian Sutter said. Sean Hill's power play goal with 13:25 left tied the score at 3-3 and set the stage for O'Neill's winning goal from the slot seven minutes later. Paul Coffey assisted on both third-period goals to move past Mario Lemieux into eighth place on the NHL's career-scoring list with 1,495 points. The 38-year-old defenseman has seven points in his last five games. "I would be a liar to say that anytime you're mentioned with Mario isn't an honor, because it certainly is. But more importantly for me, it's nice to be out there contributing," Coffey said. Hill, a defenseman who only scored once over the last three seasons, notched his fourth of this year as Carolina erased the two-goal deficit to improve to 4-1-4 in the team's last nine games. Calgary got goals from Andreas Johansson and Cory Stillman in a five-minute span of the second period to take a 3-1 lead. Just 10 seconds before the end of the period, Flames goaltender Fred Brathwaite failed to cover the puck which led to Andrei Kovalenko's fifth goal of the season as Carolina closed to 3-2. The Hurricanes, who played before a season-low crowd of 7,903, came out flat following an emotional pregame ceremony honoring former defenseman Steve Chiasson, who died in an car accident this spring. "It's tough going out on the ice after you're almost crying on the bench," O'Neill said. "We all wanted to play well and remember him in the right way." Jeff Shantz got one by Arturs Irbe from the slot seven minutes into the game before O'Neill's seventh goal late in the first period completed a perfect 3-on-2 break to give the Hurricanes a 1-1 tie. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Calgary Clubhouse Carolina Clubhouse RECAPS Ottawa 2 Chicago 1
Carolina 4
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