RALEIGH, N.C. -- Marek Zidlickys shot hit a teammate, then the post. It spun in front of the net, and took a left turn across the goal line. A few more breaks like that, and these New Jersey Devils might follow a similar, meandering path to a playoff berth. Dainius Zubrus scored two goals and the short-handed Devils beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1 on Saturday night. Travis Zajac scored the go-ahead goal on his deflection of Zidlickys second-period shot to help the Devils earn a point in their seventh straight game. "Weve been so close to these kind of wins all throughout the year and just somehow havent racked them up in a row," winning goalie Cory Schneider said. "If youre going to go on a run, these are the ones you need to grind out, and thats what weve been doing the last couple of games." They found a way to do it without some of their cornerstone players -- forwards Patrik Elias and Adam Henrique, who were both hurt the night before in a win against Washington. "I knew we had character in that room," Devils coach Peter DeBoer said. "A lot of people were writing us off, and I knew there was no quit in that dressing room. These guys are going to play right until they tell us we cant play anymore." The Devils improved to 4-0-3 during a stretch that has given their playoff chances a significant boost. "Weve been picking up points, and weve been playing some good hockey," Zajac said. "Weve got to try to find a way to keep this going and see what happens." Jeff Skinner scored for Carolina, which had its two-game winning streak snapped. The Hurricanes had kept their faint playoff hopes alive by earning points in their previous five games. "I think a lot of guys" played with desperation, coach Kirk Muller said. "We just didnt have everybody. Its too bad, because we had a few good games here that we went on the road and played hard and earned the points. "I dont want to take it away from the group of guys that came and did what theyre supposed to do and played hard," he added. "But we didnt have everyone on the page tonight, and when youre playing tight games like this, playoff mentality, youre not going to get the result." Schneider stopped 26 shots for the Devils, including all eight he faced in the third period, for his second straight victory. Anton Khudobin made 20 saves in his first loss since March 25. New Jersey won the season series 3-1, and a strange goal initially credited to Zidlicky at 6:34 of the second turned out to be the winner. His shot from between the circles had some english on it as it hit the left post, and it spun in the blue paint behind Khudobin before curving across the red line. It was later determined that the puck clicked off Zajac on its way toward the net. "I thought it went in the first time" off the post, Zajac said. When the Hurricanes couldnt tie it during the final 13 1/2 minutes of the period, the Devils could just about count on a victory: They improved to 22-1-5 when leading after two periods while the Hurricanes fell to 4-24-4 when trailing after 40 minutes. Zubrus then iced it with an empty-netter with 37.6 seconds left. Both teams entered on the outside of the playoff picture, though the Devils had a significantly better chance to crack the Easts field of eight. New Jersey entered with 82 points -- three behind Columbus, which holds the second wild-card spot in the East, and three ahead of the Hurricanes, who were coming off consecutive 4-1 wins over playoff-calibre teams Pittsburgh and Dallas. "You get out of it what you put into it," Muller said. "We had some guys that really put everything into it. Some guys didnt, and at the end of the night, you fall short." Zubrus put the Devils up 1-0 with 4:27 left in the first when he took a feed from Michael Ryder near the blue line, skated in on Khudobin and beat him with a slick backhand. Skinner tied it 5:31 into the second -- with a little help from the video-review crew. His high, knuckling shot from the right circle appeared to hit the crossbar. A review showed the shot actually hit the camera inside the net -- giving him his career-high-tying 31st goal. "We were engaged, we had good focus and I think we responded well when they scored," Zajac said. "I thought for the most part, we controlled that game." NOTES: Carolina RW Alexander Semin was back after missing two games with an undisclosed illness. ... New Jersey RW Tuomo Ruutu had an assist in his first game in Raleigh since he was dealt to the Devils at the deadline by the Hurricanes. C.J. Miles Jersey . Ted Ligety, Mikaela Shiffrin, Bode Miller and Tim Jitloff underlined the squads enormous potential on the Rettenbach glacier in Austria. OG Anunoby Jersey .35 million, avoiding arbitration. Davis led the majors last season with 53 home runs and 138 RBIs, both career highs. He earned $3. http://www.cheapraptorsjerseys.com/?tag=...nogueira-jersey. The 27-year-old hit .209 in 86 at-bats last year after missing the 2010 season following surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder. Malachi Richardson Jersey .Y. -- Syracuse guard Trevor Cooney was mired in a shooting slump, and his woes coincided with a late-season swoon by the Orange. Cheap Raptors Jerseys Authentic . -- Jimmie Johnson has a sixth NASCAR championship in hand and two legends within reach.MINNEAPOLIS -- Another group of former NHL players has joined the fight for compensation for head injuries they say they incurred while playing, while at the same time targeting the violence of the game that they believe brought about those injuries. Retired players Dave Christian, Reed Larson and William Bennett filed a class action lawsuit in federal court on Tuesday alleging that the league has promoted fighting and downplayed the risk of head injuries that come from it. "I think the glorified violence is really the Achilles heel for the NHL," said Charles "Bucky" Zimmerman, an attorney at Zimmerman Reed that filed the lawsuit on behalf of the players. "If anything comes of this, the focus on the glorified violence and perhaps the change to that will be a good thing." The lawsuit, which is similar to one brought by former football players against the NFL, joins others filed by hockey players in Washington and New York and seeks monetary damages and increased medical monitoring. The NHLPA declined to comment. A message was left with the NHL seeking comment. Zimmerman also worked on the football litigation, which resulted in the NFL agreeing to pay a $765 million settlement to thousands of former players. That settlement is still awaiting a judges approval, but the headlines it generated have been partially responsible for hockey players mounting their own case against the NHL. "Weve seen it in football. Its now here in hockey. Its of the same genesis," Zimmerman said. "Theres knowledge, we believe, that these type of concussive injuries were known and protections were not put in place appropriately enough and fast enough and rules changes were not implemented even today in fighting. "Players continue to be at risk aand suffer as a result of those risks that they take on behalf of the sport.dddddddddddd We think those are unreasonable and they should be changed and the players should be compensated." The lawsuit alleges "the NHL hid or minimized concussion risks from its players, thereby putting them at a substantially higher risk for developing memory loss, depression, cognitive difficulties, and even brain related diseases such as dementia, Alzheimers disease, and Parkinsons disease." One argument that tries to separate the NFL litigation from the NHL case is that by engaging in fighting, players willfully take on the health risks that could come from that. "You could make that argument only to a point," Zimmerman said. "And the point is that the fighting arena would not exist and would be outlawed as it is in every other level of the game had the NHL not condoned it and sold tickets based upon it and promoted the sport in that way. Its not the players that promote the sport in that way because the players dont implement the rules. Its the league that implements the rules. If they would outlaw fighting, there wouldnt be people who would fight." Zimmerman said he thinks more players will join the litigation much in the same way the group of plaintiffs in the NFL case exponentially grew as it progressed. "The light went on for them as the football players story was becoming more told," Zimmerman said. "I think the hockey players started to see that their story was going to be heard and told. Its not that we havent known about football players or hockey players getting hurt. Its now become more important that we talk about it and do something about it rather than just benignly let it continue into the future." 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