NHL PLAYOFFS Carolina triumphs in OT, 4-3

The Hurricanes lead 3-2 in the best-of-seven series.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Cory Stillman corralled a loose puck and slid it between Ryan Miller's pads for a power-play goal 8:46 into overtime, giving the Carolina Hurricanes a 4-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals on Sunday night.
Stillman also had an assist for the Hurricanes, who took a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series and are one win away from their second trip to the Stanley Cup finals in four years. Carolina, which won 4-0 on the road in Game 4 to tie the series, can advance Tuesday at Buffalo.
"We didn't want to go down there being down 3-2," Stillman said. "We're excited. We're going back and we want to finish it there in Buffalo."
Stillman took advantage just 1:34 after J.P. Dumont was sent off for hooking. Buffalo started overtime on a power play while Carolina defenseman Bret Hedican served the final 1:19 of his hooking infraction that carried over from the third period.
"We killed 1:20 of their power play and that was the key to the hockey game," Stillman said.
Justin Williams, Mark Recchi and Rod Brind'Amour also scored goals for Carolina, and Eric Staal had an assist to push his playoff point streak to 15 games.
Two straight
The Hurricanes are the first team in the series to win consecutive games. The survivor will face the Western champion Edmonton Oilers for the Stanley Cup.
Chris Drury, Derek Roy and Toni Lydman each scored for the Sabres, who couldn't hold a two-goal lead in the second period and now trail in a series for the first time in the playoffs.
Carolina sent Buffalo to the brink of elimination with its second power-play goal of the night, getting the man advantage when Dumont hooked Matt Cullen along the boards. Cullen then fired a shot from the left side that appeared to hit a Sabres player and bounce off the boards behind the net.
The puck slid by Ray Whitney before making its way to Stillman, who pushed a shot past Miller to end it.
Hurricanes rookie Cam Ward got the win in relief of Martin Gerber, who was pulled by coach Peter Laviolette when Lydman gave Buffalo a 3-1 lead just 1:55 into the second period. Ward stopped all 15 shots he faced after Gerber made only eight saves on 11 shots.
Less than best
Stillman's goal allowed the Hurricanes to win in a game in which they hardly looked crisp. They struggled at times clearing the puck from their own end and looked shaky on defense, falling behind against a team missing three injured defensemen.
But Ward provided a boost with several key stops, including on a breakaway by Maxim Afinogenov with about 4 minutes left in regulation that preserved the tie.
Buffalo managed the first goal to silence the rowdy home crowd, with Drury taking a long pass from Taylor Pyatt and beating Gerber on a breakaway midway through the period. But Buffalo couldn't sustain that momentum, giving up a tying goal when Stillman found Williams 17 seconds later to get the fans right back into it.
Then, after Roy and Lydman gave the Sabres a 3-1 lead early in the second, the Hurricanes fought back on Recchi's short put-away off a feed from Doug Weight, and Brind'Amour's shot past Miller on the power play to tie it again heading into the third.