EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- While he hasn't been getting as much attention as fellow New Jersey Devils rookie Scott Gomez, John Madden is contributing in another way, short-handed.

Madden broke a second-period tie with his NHL-best fourth short-handed goal, and the New Jersey Devils defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 5-2 Monday night.

	Carolina goaltender Eric Fichaud scrambles back to stop a shot by New Jersey's Patrik Elias, right.

"It's always been a knack of mine," said Madden, whose 27 career short-handed goals at Michigan are an NCAA record. "It's just part of my repertoire of hockey."

Madden said Devils assistant coach Larry Robinson will go over opponent's power play tendencies before games but sometimes scoring short-handed is just a matter of being in the right place at the right time. That was the case Monday night when a Jeff O'Neill turnover set up his breakaway, which gave him eight goals and five assists.

Gomez, who had an assist on the Oliwa goal, now has a team-high 44 points on 13 goals and 31 assists.

"Scotty Gomez deserves all the credit and attention and the All-Star voting," Madden said. "He deserves it all. He's beyond expectations of everyone else, except himself. My year isn't as good as I would like it to be, but there's 36 games left in the season and then the playoffs."

Brendan Morrison, Krzysztof Oliwa, Patrik Elias and Bobby Holik also scored as the Devils won for the ninth time in 12 games (9-1-2) and opened a seven-point lead over second-place Philadelphia in the Atlantic Division.

Martin Brodeur had a relatively easy night making 23 saves in earning his league-leading 27th win.

Paul Ranheim and Martin Gelinas scored for the Hurricanes, who have lost three straight while in a tight battle for a playoff spot.

"Without saying every game is do or die, we have to start putting pressure on ourselves," Ranheim said. "We have to start winning games now."

While the Devils controlled the majority of play, Ranheim tied the game at 1 early in the second period, putting in the rebound of a shot from the point by defenseman Marek Malik at 2:12.

The Hurricanes got a chance to take the lead a little more than six minutes later when Scott Stevens was called for tripping.

Less than a minute into the power play, Madden stole the puck from O'Neill at the New Jersey blue line, skated the length of the ice and beat Eric Fichaud with a shot between the pads at 9:14.

Madden is now one shy of the Devils' team and franchise record for short-handed goals, set by Wilf Paiement in 1976-77 and equaled by Brian Rolston last season.

Oliwa made his mother, visiting from Poland, cry by scoring a power-play goal at 4:55 of the third.

"My ma has always been emotional," Oliwa said. "It was great that you have moments like this in your life. I was happy she had a chance to come here, come to the NHL game, come see our team win and then she had a topper to see me score a goal. It's something you dream about, and it happened."

Elias iced the game five minutes later with his 16th goal, including his 10th in the last 11 games.

"The difference was the third goal," Ranheim said. "We had killed a minute and a half of the penalty and that one broke our backs. We had pressure in the third down 2-1 and we felt it (a goal) coming."

Gelinas and Holik scored in the closing minutes as the Devils beat Carolina for the second time in as many games this season.

Morrison, who had eight assists in the last five games, gave the Devils a 1-0 lead by scoring on a backhander in front just five seconds after Carolina defenseman Steve Halko was penalized for interference.

Fichaud had 27 saves in his first start since Dec. 23.