WINNIPEG - Cam Ward grinned as he described how he felt like a kid making some key saves in his Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday. Ward stole a pair of goals from Winnipeg centre Bryan Little in the first period, beginning with a pad save during a Jets two-man advantage and then displaying his quickness with a highlight-reel stick stop. Little was about to fire the puck into a wide-open side of the net, but Ward whipped out his stick and the puck hit the paddle. "It was a fun save," Ward said with a chuckle after making 34 stops. "The initial shot was in a position where I knew I was going to have to kick out a bit of a rebound. Just out of pure desperation, I threw my stick out there and made a save that brings you back to the ol street hockey days as a kid. "But Little, I think he got even with me scoring that second goal in the third period so it all evens out." Jets head coach Paul Maurice, who coached the Hurricanes for parts of 11 seasons, even tipped his hat to Ward. "Cam Ward was the story of this hockey game," Maurice said. "He was the best player on the ice." The Jets had mounted a 9-0 advantage in shots on goal on the way to a 13-6 gap at the end of a scoreless first period. Ward then got some offensive help from his teammates, as brothers Eric and Jordan Staal and Riley Nash each scored within a span of two minutes and 53 seconds in the second. Defenceman Andrej Sekera had a pair of assists for the Hurricanes (31-31-9) to give him 31 on the season to go with 11 goals. Jets centre Jim Slater had scored his first goal of an injury-marred season 7:48 into the second, but Eric Staal got the roll going 37 seconds later with his 17th goal of the season. Little scored his 21st goal of the season for Winnipeg (32-31-9) 1:27 into the third period. Al Montoya stopped 29 shots while making his fourth straight start in net for Winnipeg since Ondrej Pavelec went out with a lower-body injury. Hes expected to return to action next week. Montoya was pointing the finger at himself for the loss. "We came out firing. Their goaltender played well," Montoya said. "I didnt make the saves I needed to make and at the end of the day that cost us the game." Maurice said Montoya was wrong. "If a guy is clearly the reason youre in the hole, Ill get him out of the net before that happens," Maurice said. "They get to this level thinking they should stop everything. He will feel that because hes got a front-row seat to the way the guy at the other end is playing so its magnified." Carolina head coach Kirk Muller said Wards stellar play was inspiring for his teammates. "The guys knew that he was giving a great effort and he was keeping us in there," Muller said. "They were like, Hey, weve got to surround him with some better play here and, fortunately, we got timely goals. We played better the rest of the game and it was a nice team effort for everybody." Ward has battled through two injuries this season and was bumped to backup for Anton Khudobin, who was in net for Carolinas 3-2 loss to Chicago Friday night. Carolina returns home for a game Tuesday against the New York Islanders. Winnipeg, which heads out on a five-game road trip beginning Monday in Dallas, remains at 73 points. Heading into the game, the Jets were six points back of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The Jets were coming off a 5-4 overtime win against Colorado on March 19. The loss to Carolina was Winnipegs 40th one-goal game this season and they are 18-13-9 in those outings. Jordan Staal made it 2-1 when he went through Jets defenders and scored over Montoyas blocker at 10:10 of the second while Slater was in the penalty box for tripping. Maurice said Winnipegs first period was "about as good as were going to play," but Staals power-play marker hurt. "No doubt we got tight at 2-1," he said. "You could feel it." The Jets, who were outshot 21-8 in the second, were working without defenceman Zach Bogosian, who left the game in the period with an upper-body injury that Maurice said isnt too serious. It appeared Stuart tied it up six minutes after Littles goal, but the goal was waved off for goaltender interference as Jets defenceman Dustin Byfuglien fell on top of Ward in the crease and was lying on his right arm. Winnipeg pulled Montoya with about 65 seconds left in the game and swarmed Ward, but the veteran held tough. The Jets outshot the Hurricanes 15-5 in the third. Notes: Jordan Staals power-play goal was the first the Jets have allowed at home in five consecutive games. Winnipegs penalty kill was ranked fifth-best (84.8 per cent) in the NHL heading into the game … Both the Jets and Hurricanes are 2-3-0 in their last five games … The game was the second one of Carolinas 18th set of back-to-back games this season. It plays two more. Only Jersey has more back-to-back sets this season with 22. The Hurricanes so far are 9-8-1 in the first game of their sets and 5-10-3 in the second game. Vans Old Skool Sale . Claude Noel will be the man behind the bench when the team hits the ice of the MTS Centre to begin its inaugural season. Vans Old Skool Black Sale .com) - Tonight will go a long way in determining the two wild card spots in the Eastern Conference. http://www.vansshoesclearancesale.com/vans-sk8-hi-clearance.html. "Im not even that added up," the 39-year-old Australian replied. And to the Hall of Famers surprise, when all the math was done Sunday in the JTBC Founders Cup, she was the one posing for pictures with the big trophy. Vans Shoes Clearance . The defeat leaves the 41-year-old Nestor to concentrate on the mixed-doubles event after winning 12 straight matches and winning Australian titles in Brisbane and Sydney with two different partners. "This was a little bit of a let down, but all credit to them," said Nestor. Vans Shoes Clearance Sale .com) - The San Francisco Giants delivered plenty of big hits to tie the World Series.GLASGOW -- Canadas Alysha Newman won the bronze medal in pole vault at the Commonwealth Games on Saturday. Newman, from Delaware, Ont., cleared 3.80 metres to tie for third place with Englands Sally Scott. Australias Alana Boyd won gold by clearing 4.50 metres, while Wales Sally Peake finished second at 4.25. Shawwnacy Barber of Toronto won the bronze medal in mens pole vault on Friday with a top mark of 5.dddddddddddd5 metres. In the 4 x 100-metre relay, Usain Bolt led the Jamaican team to gold in a Games record 37.58 seconds. England won silver while Trinidad and Tobago took bronze. Canada did not finish. ' ' '