RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- The Carolina Hurricanes overcame a sluggish start and picked up one of their more impressive wins of the season.
Craig Adams tallied twice and Erik Cole added an empty-net goal and two assists as the Hurricanes pulled away for a 6-3 victory over the New York Rangers.
Trying to break a three-game losing streak, Carolina gave up 11 of the first 12 shots and fell behind when Alexei Kovalev scored 9:26 into the opening period.
"It was tough to get any flow," Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice said. "Early on, they were getting a lot of shots and we wanted to get off to a good start. But we were killing penalties right away."
"Every team needs wins, and we need them big-time," added Adams, who has just 10 goals in 170 NHL games but was one of 12 players to register a point. "Over the first 11 games, I thought we played well for the most part, except for a couple of games, and didn't have much to show for it."
But Josef Vasicek tied it less than two minutes later with his team-leading seventh goal and rookie Eric Staal put the Hurricanes in front at 15:28 of the period.
Carolina could not hold the lead, however, as Martin Rucinsky scored with 93 seconds to go.
The Hurricanes had four straight power plays to start the second period and although unable to convert with the extra man, they regained the lead on a goal by Adams.
"We can't have that many penalties," New York center Petr Nedved said. "We did a good job of killing them, but it gave them momentum. We don't want any more games like this."
"Offensively, defensively, we just didn't bring it," Rangers center Bobby Holik added. "We started the game well and we didn't think we had to play as well as we did the last few nights. It was a sloppy game. It wasn't good enough to win."
Ryan Bayda crashed the net and made it 4-2 at 3:09 of the third period.
Former Hurricane Jan Hlavac converted a penalty shot midway through the third to draw New York within a goal, but Adams came off the bench less than a minute later, sped past two defenders and shot the puck under the stick of goaltender Jussi Markkanen.
Cole capped his first three-point game of the season with 49 seconds left.
Carolina began slowly as Bayda and defenseman Bob Boughner drew penalties in the first six minutes. The Rangers grabbed the lead as Kovalev used a screen by Hurricanes defenseman Aaron Ward to beat Kevin Weekes.
But Vasicek surprised Markkanen with a shot from the slot and, 19 seconds into Holik's roughing penalty, Staal stuffed in a rebound for Carolina's fourth power-play goal on home ice.
Less than three minutes later, a harmless centering pass by defenseman Brian Leetch bounced off Rucinsky's skate and eluded Weekes.
But after Carolina came up empty on the power play, Adams beat Nedved to a rebound of defenseman Sean Hill's shot and snapped it over Markkanen to make it 3-2. Bayda netted his first of the season when Ward's shot off the right boards deflected off his shin pads and into the net.
"It was a tough start for us," admitted Carolina winger Jeff O'Neill, who had two assists. "We stuck with our system and we kind of broke them down. It was a good effort on everybody's part."
Pulled down in the slot by Boughner, Hlavac made good on his penalty shot, slipping the puck between Weekes' pads.
Adams, however, needed less than a minute to restore the Hurricanes' two-goal lead.
"It was disappointing to see that because we had been checking and playing so well," Rangers coach Glen Sather said.
