NHL ROUNDUP Friday's games

Blackhawks 3, Blue Jackets 1
CHICAGO -- Steve Sullivan scored twice, and Jocelyn Thibault stopped 28 shots as Chicago beat Columbus Friday night. Sullivan, who recorded his second two-goal game this season, beat Columbus' Marc Denis twice in a 3:01 span of the second period. Chicago's Kyle Calder added an insurance goal with 3:47 left in the game. Sean Pronger scored for the Blue Jackets, who got 27 saves from Denis. Columbus was 0-for-6 on power-play chances. The Blackhawks have won two straight games and are 5-1-1 in their last seven. Chicago was 0-for-4 on the power play, and has converted only one its last 34 chances. Pronger opened the scoring with 7:42 left in the first period on a one-timer from the left circle. Sullivan's first goal, at with 8:27 left in the second period, tied it at 1. Set up by Phil Housley, Sullivan, fired in a high shot from the slot with Denis out of position. Denis had stopped Theo Fleury's initial shot, but slipped out of position clearing the rebound. Sullivan gave Chicago a 2-1 lead 3:01 later. After taking a feed from Tyler Arnason, he moved in alone on Denis and converted a backhander.With six minutes left, Denis threw his stick while thwarting a point-blank chance by Chicago's Igor Korolev, but wasn't penalized. Calder completed the scoring when he fired from the top of the left circle, drove to the net and banged in his own rebound.
Panthers 3, Sabres 0
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Florida goaltender Roberto Luongo made 30 saves in his 12th career shutout, and the Panthers defeated Buffalo. Ryan Johnson, Jaroslav Bednar and Viktor Kozlov scored for the Panthers. Luongo made 40 saves Dec. 6 in a 2-0 win over Carolina in his only other shutout this season, and has made at least 30 saves in a game 12 times. Martin Biron stopped 28 shots for Buffalo, 1-3-1 in its last five games. The Sabres have been blanked four times this season. Florida's beleaguered power play -- 0 for 10 in its last two games and with just two goals in its last 30 opportunities -- went 1-for-5 in the game.
Hurricanes 3, Thrashers 2, OT
ATLANTA -- Aaron Ward scored with 1:04 left in overtime as Carolina rallied past Atlanta. Ron Francis scored with 6:14 left in the game and then set up Kevin O'Neill for the tying goal with 53 seconds left. Ward then scored in overtime, standing wide open in the slot and converting Tomas Malec's pass from behind the net for his first goal of the season. Carolina improved to 14-0-3 all time against Atlanta. Ilya Kovalchuk and Vyacheslav Kozlov scored for Atlanta, which dropped to 1-7-0-1 in its last nine games. Carolina hasn't been much better, winning for just the second time in eight games (2-5-1). Kevin Weekes made his first start for Carolina since suffering a concussion on Nov. 29. He had 32 saves while improving to 9-6-4.
-- Associated Press