Hurricanes blow down eighth consecutive rival

Martin Gerber tied his career-high with 41 saves, and Erik Cole scored on one of two penalty shots as Carolina defeated the Buffalo Sabres 5-3 on Wednesday night at Buffalo, N.Y., giving the Hurricanes a franchise-record eighth straight victory.

The streak eclipsed the seven-game winning streak set 20 years ago when the team was located in Hartford.

Red Wings 5, Kings 4 (OT): At Detroit, Robert Lang scored 1:39 into overtime to give the Red Wings a win over Los Angeles.

Rangers 4, Panthers 3 (SO): At Sunrise, Fla., Petr Prucha scored the only goal in the shootout to give New York a victory over Florida.

Blue Jackets 3, Blues 1: At Columbus, Ohio, David Vyborny scored two goals as the Blue Jackets extended St. Louis’ franchise-record losing streak to nine games.

Thrashers 5, Penguins 0: At Atlanta, Jim Slater scored his first career goal and Mike Dunham stopped 24 shots as the Thrashers overpowered Pittsburgh.

Off the ice

Simon Gagne believes it’s too early to talk about Philadelphia scoring records, even though his league-leading 16 goals have him on pace to eclipse the franchise mark. … Pittsburgh still doesn’t know how long forward John LeClair will be out after breaking several bones in his right cheekbone during a practice mishap.