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Carolina’s Ray Whitney fires a shot during the Hurricanes win over the Atlanta Thrashers on Monday. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Cam Ward returned just in time to deal a major blow to Atlanta’s playoff hopes.

After missing 19 games recovering from a back injury, Ward turned aside 26 shots Monday night to lead the Carolina Hurricanes to a 4-1 victory in Atlanta.

With the loss, the Thrashers squandered a chance to pull even with Boston for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Jussi Jokinen scored twice for Carolina, including an empty-net goal after the desperate Thrashers pulled Johan Hedberg for an extra skater with more than two minutes left. Erik Cole scored the largest goal of the night with 4:11 left, giving the Hurricanes a 3-1 lead over the pressing Thrashers.

“I felt more and more confident as the game went on,” said Ward, playing for the first time since Feb. 3. “I was excited and also a bit nervous, because I had been away from the game for so long.”

He sure didn’t look rusty.

When Niclas Bergfors broke in all alone in the second period, Ward stopped the initial shot. The rebound went right back to Bergfors for a second chance, but Ward blocked that one too.

In the third period, Jim Slater stole the puck and came in on a breakaway for a possible tying goal with the Thrashers small handed.

Ward got a piece of it. Rich Peverley picked off the long rebound and fired another shot through a screen, which the goalie turned away with a nifty flick of the pads.

“He comes back and plays a game like that,” Jokinen said. “That gave confidence to the whole team.”

The Thrashers came into the night trailing Boston by two points, and the Bruins opened the door by losing at home to Buffalo 3-2 in regulation. Atlanta couldn’t take advantage, closing out a weird season series with a division rival clinging to faint hope of making the playoffs.

“We had a lot of chances right in front of the net, but Ward did a fantastic job of taking away everything low and we really couldn’t get anything up high,” Thrashers defenceman Ron Hainsey said.

Carolina trails Boston by seven points with six games remaining.

“We had a team meeting this morning and said we had to play harder,” Jokinen said. “It’s going to be an uphill climb for us.”

Jokinen’s first goal broke a 1-1 tie in the second period, and Cole finished off the Thrashers by ripping a shot past Hedberg after Ward had turned away Atlanta’s repeated chances.

Atlanta won all three games at Raleigh, including a 4-0 shutout Saturday night that boosted its hopes. But Carolina won the return game in the home-and-home to end off a sweep of the three meetings in Georgia.

“Knowing that Boston lost, it was an opportunity to get even with them points-wise,” Hainsey said. “We just didn’t get the job done. We could have won that game.”

The Hurricanes finally caught the pressing Thrashers. Ray Whitney passed in front to Cole, standing all alone in the slot for a one-timer that beat Hedberg to make it 3-1. Atlanta defenceman Johnny Oduya slammed his stick off the post in disgust.

The Thrashers went ahead in the first period on Nik Antropov’s power-play goal. Bergfors swept in behind the net and flipped a pass toward Antropov, who appeared to be tied up by Brian Pothier but managed to get loose just enough to deflect the puck past Ward for his 23rd goal of the season.

But Carolina snatched away the lead with a pair of goals in the second. With both teams down a man, Joni Pitkanen and Whitney pulled off a couple of rapid-fire passes to set up Brandon Sutter’s 19th goal at 1:52.

About 7½ minutes later, the Hurricanes went ahead for excellent. Sutter was in the middle of things this time, taking a pass from Chad LaRose and working it in front for Jokinen, who scored his 28th goal.

He added his 29th into the empty net.

The NHL says it has no agreement to go the Phoenix Coyotes to Winnipeg or anywhere else if owners cannot be found to keep the team in Arizona.

Deputy commissioner Bill Daly says that the league’s focus remains on keeping the team in Glendale and “based on the communications and information” the NHL is receiving, those involved continue to be highly confident that the transaction can be completed.

Daly issued the statement on Monday in response to a report in the Phoenix Business Journal that Toronto billionaire David Thomson has an agreement in principle to potentially go the franchise back to Winnipeg if a buyer to keep the team in Arizona can’t be found.

The league has been in talks with Thomson and Mark Chipman, who heads the company that owns the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Daly acknowledged, “regarding their potential interest in owning an NHL franchise and potentially bringing an NHL franchise back to Winnipeg.”

“It remains an intriguing possibility and one we would consider given appropriate circumstances, but there is nothing new to report on that front at this time,” Daly said.

Never turned a profit

The Winnipeg Jets went to Arizona and became the Phoenix Coyotes in 1996, and the team has never turned a profit in the desert.

The NHL bought the Coyotes in U.S. Bankruptcy Court last year after an attempt by Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie to buy the team and force a go to Hamilton was rejected. The league has said it would look into moving the team if no local owner is found by June. Any sale that would keep the team in Arizona would require a new lease agreement with the City of Glendale, a Phoenix suburb.

Ice Edge Holdings, a partnership of Canadian and U.S. businessmen, has an agreement in principle to buy the team and has had negotiations with Glendale, but there has been widespread speculation that the group has had distress finding the necessary financial backing.

Ice Edge chief executive officer Anthony LeBlanc says he has went to the Phoenix area but has not responded to numerous email requests for a comment on the status of his company’s buy attempt.

Reinsdorf seeking deal?

Daly’s statement did not address widespread reports, none substantiated, that a group headed by Jerry Reinsdorf, owner of baseball’s Chicago White Sox and the NBA’s Chicago Bulls, has re-entered the situation and could replace Ice Edge as a local buyer.

Reinsdorf withdrew a bid in bankruptcy court last year, citing the inability to reach a suitable agreement with Glendale.

Lawyer John Kaites, who represented Reinsdorf in the earlier negotiations, has not responded to an email seeking comment.

Daly’s statement did not mention Ice Edge by name.

“Our focus continues to be on completing a transaction with local ownership that is committed to operating the team in Glendale,” he said. “Based on the communications and information we are receiving on a regular basis, the stakeholders involved continue to express a high level of confidence that that can be successfully achieved.”

On the ice, the team is having its best regular season in franchise history. The Coyotes, under first-year coach Dave Tippett, have clinched their first playoff berth since 2002 and, entering Monday’s action, had the third-best record in the NHL behind Washington and San Jose.

The team has played to consecutive sellout home crowds.

Toronto’s Sonny Weems dunks over Boris Diaw as the Raptors took on the Charlotte Bobcats Monday night. (Brock Williams-Smith/ Getty Images)

After a miserable March, the basketball gods finally smiled on the Toronto Raptors Monday night.

Sitting in the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, the visiting Raptors met the seventh-place Charlotte Bobcats at the Time Warner Cable Arena in a must-win game.

The Bobcats had won three straight games, and were looking to pull away from the collapsing Raptors with a win.

The Raptors had lost 13-of-17 games in March, and sat just one win up on the injury-riddled Chicago Bulls.

Despite shooting 51 per cent from the floor, the Raptors were unable to pull away from the Bobcats in a game that saw 17 lead changes.

And, once again, they left it up to their opponents to choose who would walk away with the win.

Costly turnover

With 13 seconds remaining Sonny Weems missed two free throws, giving the Bobcats another possession to tie the game or take the lead with a three-pointer. But guard Raymond Felton’s pass eluded centre Tyson Chandler, and the turnover handed the Raptors the 103-101 victory.

Chris Bosh led the way with a standard 22-point, 11-rebound performance. Andrea Bargnani added 16 points and nine boards.

The Raptors trailed the Bobcats at the half, but managed a 7-0 run to start the fourth quarter, capped by huge block from Amir Johnson that led to an open dunk from DeMar DeRozan at the other end.

Turkoglu comes through

Hedo Turkoglu hit a key three-pointer to place the Raptors ahead 100-93 with four minutes to go in the fourth quarter.

Turkoglu started the game on the bench and was a healthy scratch in Sunday’s loss to Miami. His benching came in the wake of reports that he was seen out on the town, just hours after missing Friday’s loss to the Denver with the stomach flu.

Felton and Stephen Jackson had 18 points each for the Bobcats. Gerald Wallace added 17 for the inexperienced franchise looking to go to the playoffs for the first time.

It wasn’t a pretty win for the struggling Raptors, but it was a hopeful boost for a team that has appeared unable to perform in the fourth quarter of late.

On Sunday night the Raptors blew a 17-point lead over the Miami Heat, getting outscored 30-12 in the fourth quarter. It was a déjà vu performance for the Raptors, who blew a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter to lose to the Denver Nuggets.