Eric Staal scored three goals and the Carolina Hurricanes rallied to beat the St. Louis Blues 4-2 for their seventh straight victory in the NHL on Sunday.
Six have come at the RBC Center, where the Hurricanes improved the NHL's best home record to 20-1-4. With 64 points, they moved in front of Philadelphia, Ottawa and Detroit for the best record in the league.
Backup goaltender Cam Ward made 26 saves to win his second start in seven games.
Staal got his second career NHL hat trick after missing part of the first period following a high stick from Dennis Wideman, and he returned with stitches and minus a tooth.
"I've got a lot chin scars, but I've never lost a tooth," Staal said. "Maybe I'll smarten up and wear a mouth guard from now on."
He assisted on Ray Whitney's goal to bring the Hurricanes within 2-1 early in the second period, then tied it by poking in a rebound before the next intermission. The go-ahead goal came off a beautiful behind-the-back pass from Erik Cole, and his third with 9 seconds left to hand the Blues their sixth straight loss.
Petr Cajanek and Mike Sillinger scored for St. Louis.
Devils 3, Blackhawks 2, SO
At Chicago, Patrik Elias and Viktor Kozlov scored in a shootout for New Jersey's season-high sixth straight win.
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