RALEIGH, N. Mirco Mueller Devils Jersey .C. -- The previous time the Carolina Hurricanes had a month like this, a rare playoff appearance soon followed. The Hurricanes capped their first 10-win month since 2009 by beating the St. Louis Blues 3-1 on Friday night. Jeff Skinner scored the go-ahead goal in the second period, Alexander Semin added an empty-netter with 1:04 left and Nathan Gerbe scored on an early power play. Opening a four-game homestand that precedes the Olympic break, Carolina earned its fifth win in six games while staying in the mix in the crowded Metropolitan Division. "We want to have a good feeling going into the break and we want to sort of build off this win," Skinner said. David Backes scored on the power play for St. Louis. The Blues, who average 3.36 goals per game, missed a chance to pull even with Chicago atop the Central Division by losing just their fourth game against an Eastern Conference team. "Hard to find a lot of good players in our game today," St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock said. "They deserve a lot of credit. They skated. They checked. They played hard. And we looked like we had the body language like we wanted an easier game. Didnt get it." Anton Khudobin stopped 26 shots for the Hurricanes. Jaroslav Halak made 28 saves in his fourth straight start, but had his four-game winning streak snapped. Khudobin stopped all 10 shots he faced in the third period, including a nifty leg save on Alex Pietrangelo with about 1 1/2 minutes left. And, he got some help from the goal post after two Blues -- Jaden Schwartz and Jay Bouwmeester -- each rang it in the final 2 minutes. "You need the post to be a goalies best friend," Carolina coach Kirk Muller said. Semin then tacked on his highlight-reel empty-net goal that capped the Hurricanes best month in a while. They went 10-4 in January, and their previous 10-win month in March 2009 led into their only playoff appearance since 2006, when they won their only Stanley Cup. Skinner put Carolina up 2-1 off a draw 1:51 into the second. After Jordan Staal won a faceoff, the puck found Skinners stick and he beat Halak with a wrist shot from the slot that clipped the goalies glove for his seventh goal of the month. "Didnt really mean to bank it off his glove and in," Skinner said. "You just try and get it to the net sometimes." That turned out to be enough support for Khudobin, who earned the decision in every game this month for Carolina. He helped the Hurricanes leapfrog idle Columbus and Philadelphia in the division standings, with 59 points. When the night started, only 11 points separated second place from the cellar in the Metropolitan. The Hurricanes never trailed on Friday, taking advantage of some sloppy play early by the Blues -- who were whistled for three penalties in the opening 11:25. Carolina went up 1-0 when Gerbe one-timed a slick cross-ice pass from Andrej Sekera 3:46 in. "The puck had moved, and there was an opening there and he found a soft area," Sekera said. "He was wide open, so I just tried to get it to him, and he did a pretty good job." The Blues, who have the leagues second-best power-play unit, tied it at 9:23 when Backes beat Khudobin high for his 150th career goal with St. Louis but just his second since Dec. 14. "Its nice to be back on the scoreboard but were more interested in winning," Backes said. "Tonight was a game where they brought a hard-skating, tough-checking game, and we didnt have a ton of answers for it." NOTES: St. Louis finished the month 9-5-0. ... The Blues entered with 37 points on the road, the second-best total in the league, but have not won in Raleigh since 2009. ... Carolina G Cam Ward, out all of January with an unspecified lower-body injury, made a conditioning start Friday night with Charlotte of the AHL. Blake Coleman Devils Jersey . Stiverne stopped Chris Arreola in the sixth round Saturday night, claiming the WBC heavyweight title belt vacated by Vitali Klitschko. Kyle Palmieri Devils Jersey . "If we could score a six in every game, obviously I would be pretty excited," Jones said. "Its a long week but a short week. Its a pretty short round robin from what were used to so you dont want to get behind the eight ball early. http://www.devilssale.com/authentic-jesper-bratt-devils-jersey/ . -- The Vancouver Whitecaps remained unbeaten with a scoreless draw at the New England Revolution on Saturday.The Portland Trail Blazers will try to win a playoff series for the first time since 2000 on Wednesday night when they visit the Houston Rockets for Game 5 at the Toyota Center. Portland won Game 4 Sunday night at the Moda Center and are now up 3-1. The last time the Blazers won a playoff series came in the 2000 Western Conference semifinals against the Utah Jazz. They fell to the Los Angeles Lakers in seven games in the Conference Finals, but since, Portland has lost six times in the first round. That could all change on Wednesday. The Trail Blazers won the first two games in Houston, then fell in Game 3 at home. Portland is on the precipice of advancement, but its been a tough trek to get to this point. Three of the first four game went to overtime, including Game 4, which the Blazers won 123-120. "Its not exhausting if you win, its exhausting if you lose," Rockets coach Kevin McHale said of the series three overtime games. "And weve lost two of the three." LaMarcus Aldridge scored a game-high 29 points for the fifth-seeded Blazers, followed by 25 from Nicolas Batum. Damian Lillard had 23 and Wesley Matthews added 21. James Harden had 28 points to lead the Rockets, Chandler Parsons scored 26 -- but just seven after halftime -- and Dwight Howard ended with 25 points and 14 rebounds. Portland took its first lead since 6-5 when Batum spun Parsons around with a crossover dribble and knocked down a 3-pointer from the high right side to make it 99-97 with 4 1/2 minutes left in regulation. Later, Howards only two blocks of the game came before Harden made four foul shots in a row to give Houston a 104-102 edge with 50.9 seconds on the clock. After Batum missed a 3, Jeremy&nbbsp;Lin rebounded the ball for the Rockets but was stripped by Mo Williams. Sami Vatanen Devils Jersey. Matthews missed a layup, but Lillard got the rebound and kicked it to Williams, who knocked down a 3 to give Portland a one-point lead with 18.9 seconds left in the fourth. Howards game-tying dunk came after Dorell Wright missed one of two foul shots for the Blazers, and Williams missed a 3-point try at the buzzer for Portland. Matthews opened overtime by wrestling the ball away from Howard and called a timeout, Parsons smacked Aldridge across the face at the other end for a Flagrant 1 foul and Aldridge made his free throws for the first points of overtime. Still, the game was tied until Batum scored five straight to spark a 7-0 run that gave the Blazers the lead for good. He made a 3-pointer after Aldridge stripped Howard under the Rockets basket, then found Lillard in transition for a layup and 117-110 lead with 2:19 to play. Troy Daniels, the former D-League player and unexpected hero for the Rockets in Game 3 when he hit the winning 3 in the closing seconds of overtime, made his first three NBA foul shots to get them within a point with 8.9 seconds left. After Williams made two free throws at the other end, Matthews stepped in front of Patrick Beverley just beyond midcourt and knocked the ball loose, sealing the win -- Portlands second in overtime in the series. "It was another terrific game and I think its obvious that both teams are pretty evenly matched," said Portland coach Terry Stotts. "I was really proud of the way we played in the second half. I thought we showed a lot of heart and determination to get back into the game." If needed, Game 6 will be Friday night in Portland. ' ' '