SporTech Matter Archived Site

Postgame: Hurricanes @ Panthers

Carolina coach Peter Laviolette didn’t waste a second to respond when reminded of his team’s success against the Panthers last season.

”We need to stop comparing this team to last year,” he said.

If the Hurricanes keep this up, that problem will solve itself.

Florida, with two wins in eight games against Carolina last season, kept the defending Stanley Cup champions winless this season with a 6-3 victory Wednesday night at BankAtlantic Center.

”This was big for our confidence and a big two points because we couldn’t beat them last year,” said Olli Jokinen, who tied a career high with four points, including two goals.

“That’s one reason why they made the playoffs and we didn’t. They got 12 points off of us. These divisional games are huge. They’re struggling now, but they’re going to get better.”

Laviolette, whose team is 0-3-1, mixed it up by replacing playoff MVP Cam Ward in goal with John Grahame. Florida had plenty of success against Grahame in Tampa Bay last season, going 4-1 with 20 goals in his six starts for the Lightning.

This time Florida started slow and struggled offensively early, getting only three shots in the first. One was golden, with Gary Roberts scoring on a Jokinen pass from the corner. Carolina tied the score on Eric Belanger’s goal between Alex Auld’s skates.

”I thought we had a slow start,” coach Jacques Martin said. “We had too many turnovers and consequently only had three shots on net. I think we really adjusted after that.”

And how. The second belonged to the Panthers, with Florida plunking Grahame with 18 shots — three getting past Grahame. Florida’s second goal came after the Panthers missed two breakaways.

To get the goal, Todd Bertuzzi fired from the right corner, with the puck deflecting off the backside of Stephen Weiss and right into the path of a charging Martin Gelinas. Weiss was credited with an assist because he fed Bertuzzi.

”I didn’t feel anything there,” Weiss said, laughing. “This was a must-win for us. We put some pressure on ourselves to get it done. We struggled against them last year, but this was a big game confidence-wise no matter who we were playing.”

Florida made it 3-1 when Weiss dug out a puck deep in the Florida zone while killing off a penalty. Jokinen took the pass and drove the ice, flying past Eric Staal and slicing the puck past Grahame. It was Florida’s first shorthanded goal of the season.

”We can feel good about the last 40 minutes we played,” said Jokinen, who had one of Florida’s five shorthanded goals last season. “I think we still have a lot of room to improve. We need this kind of effort for 60 minutes and we need it every night.”

Jokinen remained busy, feeding Roberts after picking off the puck from Mike Commodore in the corner with only 10 ticks left in the second to give Florida a 4-2 lead heading into the third.

”That goal was probably a turning point in the game,” Martin said.

“They just scored and may have had some momentum. They came back in quite a few games last year, so that goal was huge.”

Jokinen’s second goal came early in the third when he flew in on Grahame, firing from the left circle. Down 5-2, Carolina scored with 8:20 left, only to watch Weiss score with 2:23 remaining to ice the game.

”We all know [Carolina] is going to be there once they get going and really get into their season,” Roberts said. “We need to tighten up a bit when we have the lead, get that killer instinct and not let them back in like we kind of did in the third.”

More pics in the gallery here.

YouTube video of Stanley going crazy at intermission.

[HERALD]