ATLANTA — Cory Stillman scored the tiebreaking goal on a two-man advantage with 3:23 left, and Carolina overcame a pair of two-goal deficits to beat Atlanta, 4-3, on Friday night.

Two days after Ilya Kovalchuk had four points in an overtime win at Carolina, the Thrashers star was held without a goal as the Hurricanes padded their Southeast Division lead to five points.

Stillman’s goal gave the Hurricanes their first lead. Carolina’s late power play came after a 4-minute high-sticking penalty on Ken Klee and a 2-minute delay of game penalty on Thrashers captain Bobby Holik.

The Thrashers fell to 4-13 when Kovalchuk, the NHL leader with 33 goals, is held without a goal. Atlanta (20-21-1) hoped to pull within a point of first-place Carolina but instead fell below .500.

Eric Staal, Ray Whitney and Casey Borer also scored for Carolina, which ended a three-game losing streak.

Hurricanes goalie Michael Leighton, called up from Albany of the American Hockey League when veteran backup John Grahame was waived on Thursday, made 23 stops.