Erik Cole accomplished something no player had done, and helped the Carolina Hurricanes achieve a first for the franchise.

Cole became the first player in NHL history to be awarded two penalty shots in one game - he scored on the first - and the Hurricanes got their franchise-record eighth straight victory, a 5-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday night.

The 27-year-old left wing was awarded the first penalty shot while the Hurricanes were short-handed in the third period when he was hauled down from behind by Jochen Hecht. Cole's sixth goal of the season gave Carolina a 4-1 lead.

The history came 7:10 later when Cole was hooked by Dmitri Kalinin and given a second penalty shot - the first player to do so, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. This time, he was stopped by Martin Biron.

"I made the move I wanted, but not the shot I wanted," Cole said.

Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said the league's new rules aimed at creating a more open game may have had something to do with the awarding of the penalty shots.

"I don't know if those could have been called a couple of years ago," he said.

In other games, it was: Atlanta 5, Pittsburgh 0; Columbus 3, St. Louis 1; the New York Rangers 4, Florida 3 in a shootout; and Detroit 5, Los Angeles 4 in overtime.

Martin Gerber tied his career high with 41 saves as Carolina eclipsed the franchise's previous high winning streak of seven games, set 20 years ago when the team was located in Hartford.

"Actually, I'm not sure we're paying attention to that," said Cole, who also had two assists for Carolina, which is off to its best start. "I'm just paying attention to doing whatever it takes to help this team."

Cole was struck on the bottom of his right knee by a slap shot by Kalinin late in the game. With a large ice pack on his knee, Cole hobbled gingerly around the locker room, but said he should be fine for Friday night's game at Florida.

Ray Whitney, Michael Zigomanis, Frantisek Kaberle and Justin Williams also scored for the Hurricanes, who haven't lost in regulation since Oct. 8, winning 10 of 11 games since.

"When we come to the rink we're having fun, but we also expect to win," said Cory Stillman, who matched his career high with three assists. "That's a great mentality to have."

Thomas Vanek scored twice, including his first career goal, and Ales Kotalik added a goal for Buffalo, which lost its fourth straight. After winning six of their first eight games, the Sabres have lost six of seven, including four straight at home.

"It's really frustrating," Vanek said. "We got a lot of shots, but we have to buckle down and work harder to get the rebounds."

Jim Slater scored his first career goal and Mike Dunham stopped 24 shots for Atlanta, which broke a scoreless tie with three goals in the second period when the Thrashers outshot Pittsburgh 20-8.

Pittsburgh, held without a win in its first nine games, settled for a 3-2 road trip. With a win, the Penguins would have had the best five-game road trip in franchise history.

David Vyborny scored two goals and Marc Denis stopped 24 shots as Columbus extended the Blues' franchise-record losing streak to nine games. Manny Malhotra and Nikolai Zherdev each had two assists for the Blue Jackets, who came in having scored the fewest goals (28) in the NHL and ended a four-game losing streak.

Lee Stempniak scored a power-play goal in the final minute for St. Louis, which is winless on the road (0-4-2).

Rookie Petr Prucha scored the only goal in the shootout, the second straight game he gave New York a win in the new tiebreaker. Dominic Moore tied it with 3 seconds left in the third period for the Rangers, who began a five-game road trip, their longest of the season.

Florida, which was playing at home for the first time since Oct. 20 after postponing two home games because of Hurricane Wilma, has lost six straight (0-3-3).

Robert Lang scored 1:39 into overtime to give Detroit the victory. Tomas Holmstrom added two goals for the Red Wings and Steve Yzerman scored his first since March 21, 2004.

Alexander Frolov had a goal and an assist for visiting Los Angeles. He tied it with 3:48 left in regulation.