Canes Make Habit of Rallies Vs. Panthers
The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 17, 2007; 12:10 AM
SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Carolina Hurricanes are making a habit of rallying against the Florida Panthers.
Five days after overcoming a three-goal deficit in the third period, the Hurricanes beat the Panthers 3-2 in overtime Tuesday night after tying the score with 6:26 left in the third.
  Carolina Hurricanes' Ray Whitney, left, congratulates Scott Walker (24) after Walker scored a goal against the Florida Panthers in the first period of an NHL hockey game in Sunrise, Fla., Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2007. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz) (Alan Diaz - AP) |
"Good hockey teams find ways to win and they get that character that they're never too far out of it," said Erik Cole, who scored the tying goal. "We're close. We definitely had that last year, but I definitely feel things are coming together."
Justin Williams gave Carolina the victory with a power-play goal at 1:47 of overtime.
Only 17 seconds after Mike Van Ryn was sent off for holding Rod Brind'Amour, Williams beat Ed Belfour with a wrist shot over his right shoulder.
"There's a couple of ways you can work it, but you're really just looking for that one perfect shot," Williams said. "It was early in the power play and I was just trying to find a little hole. Fortunately, I found it."
Van Ryn criticized the penalty call, which gave Carolina its seventh power play, compared to two for Florida.
"It seems every time you touch Brind'Amour you get a penalty," he said. "I don't understand it. He was going to the net, I just put my stick around him. I thought you were allowed to do that as long as you're not putting it between his feet. It seems we were battling and they fall down and we get penalties."
Scott Walker and Cole also scored for Carolina, which improved to 17-0 this season when leading after two periods.
Carolina also moved to 4-1 against Florida this season and 10-3 the past two seasons. The Hurricanes beat Florida 6-4 on Thursday night after trailing 3-0 after two periods.
"If you had told us we were going to be ahead with 8 minutes to go in the third, we would have taken that before the game," Florida center Stephen Weiss said. "We have to find a way to win. It's the same old story. We have to bear down those last minutes."
Olli Jokinen and Nathan Horton scored for the Panthers, who were playing the 1,000th game in franchise history.
