Bowman’s career effort leads Carolina

NHL: Drayson Bowman needed less than 5 minutes to double his career goal total. That bit of timely scoring helped give Kirk Muller his first coaching victory on home ice, and – for a while, at least – lifted the Carolina Hurricanes out of last place in the East.

Bowman scored two goals to lead Carolina past the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 at Raleigh, N.C.

Tuomo Ruutu added a deflected goal and an assist, and Jaroslav Spacek scored his first goal since being acquired by the Hurricanes, who scored four straight goals to rally from a 2-0 deficit, then held on to give Muller his first win at home and snap a slide in which they had lost 16 of 20.

Bowman, the former Spokane Chief who was recalled from the minors three days earlier, wasn’t around for most of those losses, but finished with the second two-goal game of his brief career. The win and a loss by the New York Islanders moved Carolina into 14th place.

“Coming up from Charlotte, that’s just what you hope to do – come in and bring whatever you can,” Bowman said. “If it’s two goals, it’s great.”

Alex Burrows and Mason Raymond each had a goal and an assist, Kevin Bieksa also scored, Cory Schneider stopped 37 shots, and Henrik Sedin had two assists to reach 700 career points for the Canucks, who entered 9-1-1 in their previous 11.

Cam Ward made 33 saves for the Hurricanes, who rallied from two goals down and scored three times in a 4:45 stretch that spanned the second intermission and began and ended with Bowman’s third and fourth career goals.

The Hurricanes took a 3-2 lead 37 seconds into the third on Bowman’s second goal, which came when he switched from the backhand to the forehand and whipped the puck past Schneider from the circle. • Flyers notch seventh straight win: Andrei Meszaros scored 8:08 into the third, Mathieu Carle had three assists and the Philadelphia Flyers extended their winning streak to seven with a 4-3 road victory over the Montreal Canadiens.

Maxime Talbot, Harry Zolnierczyk and Wayne Simmonds also scored for the Flyers in the victory tempered by news that captain Chris Pronger will miss the rest of the regular season and playoffs because of severe post-concussion syndrome.

“It’s really tough news about Chris,” said coach Peter Laviolette, who learned the news just before the game. “I think first and foremost we wish for him to have good health and anything after that I guess we’ll sort it out.”

Pronger has been sidelined since Nov. 19.

In 13 games this season, Pronger had a goal and 11 assists. He has 157 goals and 541 assists in 1,167 career regular-season games in 18 seasons with Hartford, St. Louis, Edmonton, Anaheim and Philadelphia.

The 6-foot-6 player led Anaheim to the 2007 Stanley Cup title and won Olympic gold medals with Canada in 2002 and 2010. He signed a seven-year contract with Philadelphia in 2009.

• Capitals win on Ovechkin’s late goal: Alex Ovechkin scored with 1:14 left, and Michal Neuvirth made 26 saves for his first shutout of the season in the Washington Capitals’ 1-0 victory over the Winnipeg Jets at Winnipeg, Manitoba.

• Stamkos’ 19th goal lifts Lightning: Steven Stamkos scored his 19th goal of the season 30 seconds into overtime and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Calgary Flames 5-4 at Tampa, Fla.

Stamkos got the winner from in close off a nifty pass from Eric Brewer.

Illinois upsets USC, will meet UCLA

Volleyball: Senior outside hitter Colleen Ward had 27 kills and Illinois advanced to its first championship match in school history by upsetting USC in five sets in the NCAA semifinals at San Antonio.

Michelle Bartsch added 22 kills for the Illini (32-4) in the 25-27, 25-18, 25-22, 18-25, 15-10 win. They’ll face UCLA in Saturday’s championship at the Alamodome.

Alex Jupiter had 32 kills for USC (29-5). The Trojans lost in the semis for the second consecutive year after being pushed to five sets for a third consecutive match this tournament.

USC sophomore Alexis Olgard (Mead High) had four kills and five blocks. The 6-foot-5 middle blocker played in all five games.

The Illini were playing in their first semifinal in 23 years. They’ll face college volleyball royalty in the Bruins, who’ve won three championships, but none since 1991.

No. 10 Missouri improves to 10-0

Men’s basketball: Ricardo Ratliffe and Michael Dixon had 18 points each and No. 10 Missouri shot 60 percent from the field in a 104-67 rout of Kennesaw State at Columbia, Mo.

Marcus Denmon added 17 points and Phil Pressey had nine points and 10 assists for the Tigers (10-0), unbeaten after the first 10 games for the first time since an 11-0 start in 1991-92 after running its home-court nonconference winning streak to 65. It’s Pressey’s third time in double-figure assists this season.

Freshman Delbert Love had a career-best 27 points with five 3-pointers for Kennesaw State (2-6), which faced a Top 10 team for the second time in school history.

• Murray State backs up rare ranking: Ed Daniel and Ivan Aska both scored 16 points and No. 24 Murray State won its first game as a ranked team in 13 years, beating Lipscomb 89-65 at Murray, Ky.

The Racers (10-0) have Steve Prohm off to the best start for a rookie coach in Murray State history.

Isaiah Canaan added 13 points for the Racers, who won their 14th straight nonconference game, a streak dating to February 2009.

U.S. teenager Thompson takes lead

Golf: American teenager Lexi Thompson took a two-shot lead after the second round of the Dubai Ladies Masters at Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The 16-year-old Thompson, who is the youngest LPGA Tour winner, had six birdies en route to a bogey-free, 6-under-par 66 and 136 total.

“I just made a few more putts today,” Thompson said. “I hit it a little bit closer. I was just thinking, ‘Stay steady,’ and playing consistent.”

Swedish veteran Sophie Gustafson (67) and Margherita Rigon (68) shared second place, while Julieta Granada and Becky Morgan trailed the leader by three shots.

Michelle Wie is four shots behind after a 67. The 22-year-old American, who is looking for her first win of the year, rallied after an opening-round 73.

First-round leader Lotta Wahlin of Sweden shot a 74 to fall four shots behind.