Dougie Hamilton had two goals as the visiting Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 on Tuesday night to enhance their playoff position.

Justin Williams and Jordan Staal also scored for the Hurricanes, who won for only the second time in a five-game stretch.

Staal and Hamilton each scored in the third period, including the final one into an empty net by Hamilton. Staal also recorded an assist.

Those third-period goals were enough to ease some nerves in the final week of the regular season. With the win, the Hurricanes (44-29-7, 95 points) moved into the top wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, one point ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Montreal Canadiens. Columbus lost to Boston on Tuesday night, while Montreal beat Tampa Bay.

Carolina, like Columbus and Montreal, has two games remaining, including Thursday night's home finale against the New Jersey Devils

Carolina goalie Petr Mrazek made 23 saves.

Toronto goalie Garret Sparks stopped 33 shots.

John Tavares scored for the Maple Leafs (46-27-7, 99 points), who secured a playoff spot Monday night with a victory at the New York Islanders.

The Hurricanes, who struggled mightily on power plays for most of March, have at least one power-play goal in three straight games. Hamilton's first goal came with the man advantage.

William Nylander appeared to give Toronto a first-period lead, but that was wiped out when it was deemed he was offsides.

Williams opened the scoring with 1:57 remaining in the first period with an unassisted goal.

After Hamilton posted his 17th goal of the season, the Maple Leafs responded with a power-play goal from Tavares shortly after the midway mark of the second period.

After Tavares' goal, the Maple Leafs created a flurry of activity on the offensive end late in the second period but couldn't convert again during that stretch.

Carolina won two of three meetings with Toronto this season.

--Field Level Media