Carolina Hurricanes 3, Chicago Blackhawks 2 FINAL

CHICAGO (AP) _ Eric Cole and the Carolina Hurricanes got the lucky bounce they needed to beat the Chicago Blackhawks.

Cole scored with 4:22 left in the third period to give the Hurricanes a 3-2 victory Wednesday night.

The Carolina forward beat goalie Michael Leighton high to the stick side with a shot from the top of the right circle off a pass from Rod Brind'Amour.

``The pass came across, it flipped up on (Cole's) stick and he one-timed it,'' Leighton said. ``It's tough to read when it flips up like that.''

Cole, who also had an assist, scored the game-winner on his third shot of the period, and the Hurricanes finished with a season-high 49 shots.

``Roddy made a great play to cause the turnover and I just opened right up,'' Cole said. ``I probably shot that shot 100,000 times in practice from Roddy, to it's nice to see one go in.

``You start wondering if you picked the wrong stick at the start of the game or something, because something's not going right out there. I got pretty good wood on a feed Craig Adams gave me the shift before. I thought that one maybe had a better chance of going in.''

Brind'Amour had a goal and two assists, and Adams also scored for Carolina. The Hurricanes improved to 4-1-0-1 in their last six games, and extended their unbeaten streak against Chicago to six games (5-0-1).

Tuumo Ruutu and Mark Bell scored for the Blackhawks, 1-6-2-1 in their last 10 games.

Leighton is 0-6-1 in his last seven games.

``I felt good, but the bottom line is we didn't win,'' Leighton said. ``I didn't matter how I played.''

Carolina goalie Arturs Irbe, playing in just his fifth game this season, stopped 21 shots.

Ruutu's power-play goal with 1:33 left in the first period opened the scoring after Irbe misplayed the puck behind the net.

Irbe left the crease and tried to clear the puck off the back boards. Instead it bounced off Tyler Arnason and to Ruutu, who tucked it in from the side of the net before Irbe could recover.

Adams tied it 1:04 later when he fired in a shot from between the circles. He took Brind'Amour's pass, fanned on his first shot, then shot again and beat Leighton high on the stick side.

Bell gave Chicago a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal 2:13 into the second. While cutting through the crease, he backhanded in a rebound of Jim Vandermeer's shot from the point.

The goal was Bell's 20th and marked the first time he has scored 20 in three full NHL seasons.

Brind'Amour tied it at 2 with 4 seconds left in the period on a goal-mouth tip in of Sean Hill's shot from the left point.

Midway through the third, Carolina's Jesse Boulerice high-sticked Chicago's Brett McLean in the face. Although McLean's face was cut, no penalty was called.