Carolina Hurricanes 3, Atlanta Thrashers 2 FINAL OT

ATLANTA (AP) _ Kevyn Adams couldn't believe it. With the Carolina Hurricanes short-handed in the final minute of overtime, he failed to convert a two-on-none rush.

``You just don't get those types of chances,'' Adams said.

Seconds later, he made up for it.

Adams scored on a breakaway with less than a second left in overtime and the Hurricanes beat the Atlanta Thrashers 3-2 Friday night.

``I just didn't get that first shot high enough,'' Adams said. ``I was kicking myself over that. Then, who would believe you'd get another chance, on a breakaway even? Amazing.''

Adams skated in alone on goaltender Pasi Nurminen in the final seconds, and his shot scooted into the net with about a half-second left on the clock. The officials reviewed the goal and allowed it to stand.

Earlier, Nurminen thwarted that two-man rush by Adams and Bret Hedican, but the Thrashers turned over the puck again to set up the winning goal.

``With 38 seconds left in the game, and us short-handed, I don't think anyone was expecting a two-on-oh, followed by a breakaway,'' Carolina center Ron Francis said. ``But that's exactly what happened.''

Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre tied it for Atlanta with 12.4 seconds left in regulation, fighting off Francis to poke in the rebound of a shot by Ilya Kovalchuk. Patrik Stefan also scored for the Thrashers, who went 0-for-9 on the power play and had a three-game winning streak snapped.

``We have to remember we got a point out of this game,'' Nurminen said. ``We were two goals behind and came back.''

Rod Brind'Amour and Jeff O'Neill had goals in a dominating second period for the Hurricanes, who are 3-0-1-1 in their past five road games.

``It's one of the most exciting regular season games I've ever been part of,'' said Carolina goaltender Kevin Weekes, who had 32 saves. ``They have a very skilled lineup and strong power play, so to be successful, you need to simplify things, so you have a clear view of the puck.''

The Hurricanes outshot Atlanta 11-5 in the second and kept the pressure on Nurminen, finally scoring the first goal at 5:21.

After Thrashers defenseman Ivan Majesky misplayed the puck, Carolina broke out on a three-on-one. Brind'Amour and Hedican passed the puck back and forth, and Brind'Amour finally skated by defenseman Andy Sutton and beat Nurminen with a quick shot.

Later, with Grand-Pierre off for a high-sticking penalty, Nurminen stopped a shot with his pads, but the puck bounced in the air. He tried to snare it with a swipe of his glove, but missed.

O'Neill was there on the doorstep for the easy goal, stuffing the puck in the open net.

``We played well for the first two periods, but they came out and tied it up with a couple of great goals,'' Adams said. ``Give them credit for that, but give us credit for being resilient enough to come back and get the win.''

Kovalchuk missed the net on a breakaway early in overtime, the Thrashers' best chance in the extra period.