Canes give Muller first win as coach

Carolina Hurricane Patrick Dwyer puts the puck past Edmonton Oiler goaltender Devan Dubnyk for a second-period goal. ANDY DEVLIN - NHLI/Getty Images

For Kirk Muller, a victory. At last.

Muller earned his first victory as coach of the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday -- and first as an NHL head coach -- as the Canes topped the Edmonton Oilers 5-3 at Rexall Place.

Muller had lost his first four games since replacing Paul Maurice as coach, the first three at home. But the Canes also were winless in their last seven games and were looking for something, anything, good to happen.

A night after being pulled during the Canes' 7-6 loss to the Calgary Flames, goaltender Cam Ward had 22 saves and was solid enough in picking up a victory. After the game, Ward scooped up the puck and gave it to Muller.

The Canes (9-17-4) scored twice on the power play and got a shorthanded goal from Chad LaRose. Jeff Skinner scored his 12th of the season as 11 players had points.

The Canes came out with plenty of jump against the Oilers but had to overcome a disappointing call and then questionable call. LaRose had a first-period goal wiped out after a review -- the ruling was LaRose made a kicking motion -- and the Oilers' Eric Belanger was awarded a goal after kicking the puck through Ward's pads for a 1-0 lead.

Good call on LaRose, bad call on Belanger. But the Oilers' goal stood.

But Jeff Skinner's 12th goal of the season, on a power play with 37.8 seconds to play in the first tied the score. The Canes then scored three times in the second as Jamie McBain, Pat Dwyer and LaRose found the back of the net.

McBain scored on a power play, Pat Dwyer at even strength, and LaRose gave the Canes their sixth shorthanded goal of the season as Carolina led 4-2 after two. The only second-period slip by the Canes was allowing a goal by the Oilers' Ben Eager nine seconds after LaRose's shortie.

Tuomo Ruutu picked up his second goal in as many games in the third period for a 5-2 lead. A scoring change made after the Flames game gave Ruutu a goal originally credited to McBain.

Skinner was awarded a penalty shot in the third period but was stopped by Oilers goalie Devan Dubnyk.

While the Canes had two power-play goals, they failed to score on a 5-on-3 in the third. After stopping the 5-on-3, the Oilers made it a 5-3 game when rookie Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored his 14th of the season.

The Canes had not won a game since beating the Philaelphia Flyers 4-2 on Nov. 21 and had not earned a point since a 4-3 shootout loss to Montreal on Nov. 23.

Muller made some line changes for the game, opening with Staal centering Jiri Tlusty and Dwyer, and Skinner back on a line with Jussi Jokinen and Ruutu.

Defenseman Joni Pitkanen missed the game with an upper-body injury suffered against the Flames. Forward Andreas Nodl, a healthy scratch against the Flames, was back in the lineup and opened on Brandon Sutter's line with LaRose.