Panthers Sweep 'Canes At Home

Kwiatkowski Scores Overtime Game Winner

The Panthers staged a key comeback from a 3-1 deficit in the third period with forwards Jon Sim and Jozef Stumpel scoring third period goals and Roberto Luongo making 39 saves to secure 2 points in a win vs. Carolina in front of 16,862 fans at the BankAtlantic Center.

Joel Kwiatkowski scored the game winner, his fourth, 1:14 into overtime.

The win comes just one night after the Cats dominated Carolina to the tune of a 5-3 home victory.

The Hurricanes came into the weekend with the best record in the entire National Hockey League.

When Carolina's Kevyn Adams scored at 1:09 of the third period to give the Hurricanes a 3-1 lead, conventional wisdom suggested that the game was all but over.

But no one told that to Sim, who scored just 35 seconds later, or Stumpel, who followed less than four minutes after that to tie the game. Florida showed no quit, carrying the play throughout the third period.

Cats Captain Olli Jokinen added his 32nd goal of the season in the second period and finished with two points (1-1) on the night.

The Stumpel-Jokinen-Gelinas line continued their recent dominance with four points on the evening and an impressive 35 points over the last three games.

The Panthers defense also held 'Canes leading scorer Eric Staal without a goal for both games. Staal entered Saturday's game as the fourth leading goal scorer in the NHL with 39.

All totaled, over 30,000 fans saw the Cats take on the Hurricanes at the BankAtlantic Center over the weekend.