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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) -- This time there was no last-second
heartbreak for Florida goalie Roberto Luongo. Pavel Bure saw to
that.
Bure had two goals, including the game-winner, and a pair of
assists as the Florida Panthers defeated the Buffalo Sabres 5-2
on Wednesday night. Bure's 31 goals tied him with Vancouver's Markus
Naslund for the NHL lead.
Those goals weren't there the last time the teams met, Jan. 19
in Buffalo. That time, Luongo played brilliantly, but received no
offensive support at all. Denis Hamel scored with 7.9 seconds left
in regulation to send Luongo home a loser, 1-0.
"It's good to know that I could bounce back from the last time,
and that game." Luongo said. " It was nice to get this kind of
support tonight."
This time the Panthers scored four goals in the final period and
tied a season high with five overall.
Peter Worrell, Bure and Olli Jokinen scored in a 1:47 span of
the period as the Panthers came back after trailing most of the
night.
"That was the best third period of the year," Bure said. "To
score four goals,- it can't get any better than that."
Bure now has 50 game-winning goals in his career.
Florida, which had lost six of eight games entering the night,
trailed 2-1 entering the final period, and didn't have a shot until
Worrell scored.
"We weren't going to win getting five shots in a period against
[Dominik] Hasek," Panthers coach Duane Sutter said. "We had to
try and do a little more of that -- getting shots. Things worked
out."
After falling down behind the net, Worrell got up and flicked
the puck in the direction of the goal. It glanced off Hasek's left
leg and bounced into the net at 6:16.
"I was just trying to get it to the front of the net hoping
that Pavel or Viktor [Kozlov] could finish it," Worrell said.
"It took a funny bounce and found its way into the back of the
net."
Bure gave the Panthers a 3-2 lead with a blast from just inside
the blue line. Just 35 seconds later, Jokinen made it 4-2 with his
fifth goal of the year.
Kozlov tied a career-high with three assists for the Panthers.
Luongo made 38 saves to earn his fifth victory of the season.
For a goalie unaccustomed to support -- Luongo has had a 0-0
game and narrowly missed a few more --Wednesday's game was as good
as it gets.
"You take it when you can get it," Luongo said. "Guys started
pressing and all of a sudden we had three quick goals."
Bure scored his second goal of the night and eighth in his last
seven games with 3:34 left when he split two defenders and sent the
puck through Hasek's legs.
Chris Gratton gave the Sabres an early 1-0 lead when his slap
shot from just outside the top of the left circle rocketed past
Luongo.
Hasek stopped all nine shots in the first, including a point
blank stop on Rob Niedermayer with 12 seconds left.
The Panthers tied the game in the second when Marcus Nilson sent
the puck over Hasek. After Kozlov weaved down the ice, he passed to
Bure, who threaded it to Nilson.
The goal ended a stretch of 91:16 of scoreless hockey for Hasek
against the Panthers.
Things got worse later -- much worse as Buffalo fell for the
fourth time in five games.
"I think they got a couple bad ones on us and Dom lost focus,"
Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "We tried to keep pouring it on, but
the kid on the other end played pretty well."
And this time, he wasn't the only one.
Game notes
A major scrum in the second period resulted in nine
penalties. Florida's Ray Whitney was given a game misconduct in a
melee precipitated by Buffalo's Eric Boulton shoving Robert Svehla
down in the crease and into Hasek. ... The Panthers, who have been
on the market since 1999, lost a potential suitor Wednesday when
Colorado ski resort owner George Gillett Jr. bought 80. 1 percent
of the Montreal Canadiens and the Molson Centre for a reported $183
million. Gillett had been interested in buying the Panthers. ...
Prior to the game, the Panthers reassigned D Yan Golubovsky to
their AHL affiliate in Louisville. He had two assists in six games.
... Buffalo D Richard Smehlik, on injured reserve since Jan. 22
with a strained groin, was activated and played. ... Florida's
record for scoring the fastest three goals occurred in Los Angeles
on Oct. 6, 1999, when the Panthers accomplished the feat in 1:17.
... It was the first time all season the Panthers scored more than
three goals with Luongo in net.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Buffalo Clubhouse
Florida Clubhouse
RECAPS
Toronto 4
Carolina 3
Detroit 3
Columbus 2
NY Rangers 4
Montreal 2
Florida 5
Buffalo 2
NY Islanders 3
New Jersey 2
Philadelphia 5
Pittsburgh 1
Edmonton 3
Chicago 2
Nashville 3
Anaheim 0
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