If Justin Williams and Cam Ward can keep turning in quality performances, the Carolina Hurricanes' bad start to the season will soon be a distant memory.

Williams had three goals and an assist, and Ward made 34 saves to help the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-1 Monday night.

``It's nice to get off the goose egg,'' said Williams, who had no goals in six games before Monday. ``Sometimes they find a way of going in. I had a lot of scoring opportunities tonight and sometimes that's the way the puck goes.''

Williams scored twice during a three-goal second period that put Carolina up 4-0. He made it 2-0 with a rebound goal at 3:11 and scored on a power play with 2:39 left. The right wing completed his first career hat trick with a rebound power-play goal from the low left circle 37 seconds into the third.

Ward stopped Martin St. Louis on two breakaways in the first. He also made second-period saves on in-close shots by St. Louis and Brad Richards.

``The win is all that matters,'' said Ward, who lost the bid for his first career shutout late in the third.

Elsewhere in the NHL it was: New York Rangers 4, New Jersey Devils 2; Nashville 2, New York Islanders 1 (SO); Chicago 5, Colorado 3; Vancouver 2, Edmonton 1; and Detroit 3, Los Angeles 1.

At Tampa, Fla., Rod Brind'Amour and Eric Belanger also scored for Carolina. The defending Stanley Cup champion Hurricanes have won three straight after starting the season 0-3-1.

``We needed Cam on more than one occasion to bail us out,'' Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette said. ``We've seen Cam really focused before and really sharp. That was one of the sharpest performances I've seen from him.''

Nikita Alexeev scored for the Lightning with 2:13 left in the third. Tampa Bay goalie Marc Denis was pulled after allowing four goals on 19 shots through two periods.

``I thought we played a very good first period,'' Tampa Bay coach John Tortorella said. ``The beginning of that second period, the first three or four shifts and really right on through, they fed it to us as far as grit.

``I'm not going to get into assessing any more of the game. I don't know what we turned off. We will assess it as a team tomorrow, together.''

The Lightning have lost four of five.

``We can't feel sorry for ourselves,'' said St. Louis, who had seven shots. ``We've got to keep going.''

Brind'Amour put the Hurricanes ahead 1-0 at 4:28 of the first when Erik Cole's pass went off his skate and into the net. Belanger scored on the power play midway through the second.

Rangers 4, Devils 2

At New York, Brendan Shanahan scored his NHL-leading seventh goal of the season, and the Rangers defeated New Jersey.

Predators 2, Islanders 1 (SO)

At Uniondale, N.Y., Steve Sullivan scored in regulation and a shootout to help Nashville win its second straight game.

Blackhawks 5, Avalanche 3

At Denver, Martin Lapointe scored two goals, including the winner early in the third, and Nikolai Khabibulin stopped 19 shots to lead Chicago over Colorado.

Canucks 2, Oilers 1

At Vancouver, Sami Salo scored the go-ahead goal in his return to the Canucks' lineup after missing one game with a groin injury.

Red Wings 3, Kings 1

At Los Angeles, Robert Lang scored twice in the third period and
Kris Draper had a short-handed goal in Detroit's first stop of a
four-game road trip.