RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Jeff O'Neill took his team to task earlier in the week. He backed it up on the ice Saturday night in Carolina's 4-2 victory over Tampa Bay.

O'Neill, Sean Hill and Andrei Kovalenko scored in the first 6½ minutes as the Hurricanes snapped a two-game skid and ran their unbeaten streak against Tampa Bay to nine (5-0-4).

"With Keith (Primeau) gone we need for some guys to step up around here, me being one of them," said O'Neill, who got Carolina off to a quick start with a goal 1:25 into the game. "We played not very good hockey our last home game and then we played even worse in Philadelphia (on Thursday).

"It's a long season and you go through ups and downs. It's important how you rebound. I thought we rebounded pretty good."

Primeau, the team's top scorer a season ago, remains in a contract dispute with Carolina management 17 games into the season.

The Lightning had won three of four coming in, while the Hurricanes had struggled to a 1-3 mark in their new arena. An empty-net goal by Gary Roberts with 47 seconds left clinched it for Carolina, which climbed back to .500.

"This was a big game or us and it was a big win," Carolina coach Paul Maurice said. "I know it's the Tampa Bay Lightning, but shame on us if we think that that matters when they come into our building."

O'Neill scored his fifth goal when his shot to the short side beat backup goalie Kevin Hodson -- who wouldn't last long on this night.

"Everybody came to play tonight," Maurice said. "We talked more about having a good 60 minutes, but we also talked about how we wanted to come out."

Carolina's second shot less than two minutes later by Hill also got past Hodson, who was pulled in favor of regular Dan Cloutier. Hill's first shot from the blue line was blocked, but the puck bounced right back to him and he fired his second attempt along the ice to beat Hodson for the first of two first-period power play goals.

Hill's goal was the sixth of the season by the defense corps. Carolina had a league-low 15 goals by its defensemen last season.

Three minutes later, with Mike Sillinger in the penalty box for interference, Kovalenko tipped in a shot from Marek Malik for a quick 3-0 lead.

"Our defense had a rough game -- as a corps," said Tampa Bay coach Steve Ludzik. "For win on the road you have to have everybody playing an `A' game and that didn't happen."

Steve Guolia's one-timer midway through the period cut into the Carolina lead, but Tampa Bay continued to be plagued by slow starts. The Lightning have been outscored 24-11 in the first period through 16 games.

O'Neill's giveaway 13 minutes into the second led to Sillinger's sixth of the season, a shot from the slot that Arturs Irbe had little chance on.

"We had our chances to score," Sillinger said. "We hit three posts. If one of those goes in it's a different story."