Final Score: Carolina 4, Winnipeg 3

Winnipeg, MB (Sports Network) - Chad LaRose scored the winner with 1:22 to play as Carolina edged Winnipeg, 4-3, on Sunday.

Eric Staal had two goals and an assist while Jussi Jokinen added a goal and two assists for the Hurricanes, who have won three straight. Cam Ward stopped 30 shots in the win.

With nine games to play, Carolina sits five points back of Washington for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with Buffalo and Winnipeg ahead of them.

"This is an atmosphere that you love to play in and this is our playoffs right now," said Staal. "We have to win as many games as we can at this point and have to play our top game every time. This was a big one for us."

Antti Miettinen scored twice and Nik Antropov added a goal for the Jets, who had won their previous two. Ondrej Pavelec was tagged for all four goals on 35 shots in the loss.

"Didn't like the game, right from the onset," said Winnipeg head coach Claude Noel. "I think we got exactly what we deserved. Our best players were not our best players, and theirs were. To me this game went exactly the way you could see it go."

Winnipeg spoiled a chance to tie with Washington, which lost to Chicago on Sunday, in the standings and remain two points back.

Carolina tied the game at three halfway through the third when Staal skated in on a breakaway off a lead pass from Jokinen and buried his shot to the left side.

In the latter stages of the game, LaRose picked up a loose puck in the slot off a broken play and wristed it in and the 'Canes held off the Jets from there.

Jokinen scored shorthanded on a 2-on-1 break just 7:41 in when he opted to shoot and buried his chance from the right circle.

The Jets tied the game four minutes later when Antropov whacked the bouncing puck in from the slot.

Carolina took a 2-1 lead 5:46 into the second on the power play when Staal's wrister from the right circle beat Pavelec high, but the Jets scored the next two.

The first goal came at the 10:29 mark when Evander Kane's shot from the right point was tipped in by Miettinen providing a screen in front for his first goal of the season in his 35th game.

Miettinen didn't have to wait long for his second goal of the season as he worked a give-and-go with Spencer Machacek and he shot it in on a one-timer from the left circle with 1:06 left in the second.

Game Notes

Carolina has scored 11 shorthanded goals this season, second in the league behind New Jersey's 14 goals...Antropov has scored in three straight games...Carolina hosts Florida on Wednesday...Winnipeg plays in Pittsburgh on Tuesday...Winnipeg has won three of the five games with Carolina this season. The two will meet one last time in Carolina on March 30.