Halloween Night A Treat For The Cats

Florida Panthers' Stephen Weiss, left, and Olli Jokinen, center,congratulate teammate Richard Zednik after he scored against the Carolina Hurricanes in third period of NHL hockey game at the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla., Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2007. The Panthers defeated the Hurricanes 4-2. (AP Photo/Hans Deryk)

By Matthew F. Sacco for floridapanthers.com

The only luck the Florida Panthers are used to getting against the division rival Carolina Hurricanes is hard luck. So on this night, as they took the ice for the third period facing a 1-0 deficit and a potential three-game losing streak, the Cats made a little luck of their own.

“We battled hard in the third period,” Captain Olli Jokinen said. “It’s a big two points for us. We won all the battles at the end there. That’s what we needed.”

Florida came out and scored a season-high four third-period goals, including three on the power play, to take a 4-2 win in its first meeting of the season with Carolina. After former Panther and future Hall of Famer Joe Nieuwendyk made a brief visit to the Panthers locker room during the second intermission, Jokinen came out and quickly tied the game at 1-1 with a power-play goal at 7:27 of the third period. Jokinen beat Canes goalie Cam Ward high to the glove side after taking a feed in the slot from center Stephen Weiss. Nathan Horton also assisted on the play.

“Joe has played a lot of years in this league and he has a lot of passion,” Panthers head coach Jacques Martin said of Nieuwendyk’s impromptu visit. “I think he delivered an important message to our guys.”

Unfortunately for the Cats, Carolina’s Eric Staal came back just four minutes later and fed Erik Cole with a pretty cross-crease pass that Cole one-timed in to the gaping net to reinstate the Hurricanes’ one-goal lead.

Game Highlights
Starting Lineups
Panthers		Hurricanes
Campbell	C	Brind'Amour
Kreps	LW	Larose
Dvorak	RW	Williams
Bouwmeester	D	Wallin
Allen	D	Hedican
Vokoun	G	Ward
Post-Game Video
Jacques Martin  Olli Jokinen   Richard Zednik  Tomas Vokoun
Quote of the Game
"After two periods, our mindset was that we had to go out and battle hard for each other and get two points. Enough is enough. Everybody stepped it up." - Panthers captain Olli Jokinen
Stat of the Game
The Panthers scored three power play goals for the second straight game, and have scored on 6-of-11 opportunities in those two games.
3 Stars Presented by Szrio Jewelry
1. Olli Jokinen 2. Richard Zednik 3. Jay Bouwmeester

Then, high-profile offseason acquisition Richard Zednik displayed the speed and scoring touch he is known for, taking a feed from Jokinen and beating Ward on the breakaway to take a 3-2 lead.

“I just tried to get him to go down and shoot it up high,” Zednik said. “Luckily he did that and I was able to score. It’s a big win for us and now we’ve got to go do it on the road.”

But instead of sitting on the one-goal cushion, the Cats continued to press and were eventually rewarded on a 5-on-3 power play when Nathan Horton walked in alone on Ward, toe-dragged around the sprawled goaltender before depositing the puck into an open net for a 4-2 final. Forward Ville Peltonen assisted on Horton’s goal.

All told, Jokinen played a hand in Florida’s first three third-period goals, including getting his third power play tally in two games.

“His shot has been very effective on the power play,” Martin said. “I think we’ve scored six power-play goals in our last two games. That’s very important for us.”

The Panthers four third-period goals were a season high, after scoring only five goals in the third period all season. With the win, the Cats move to 5-7-0 on the young NHL season, and now sit just one point back of second place Tampa, with back-to-back road contests against Buffalo and the Hurricanes looming on Friday and Saturday.

Florida returns to the BankAtlantic Center for its next home game on Monday, November 5 when they host in-state rival Tampa Bay at 7:30 p.m.