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Jokinen's goal in overtime helps Panthers down Stars

Mar 2, 2007 - 5:13 AM SUNRISE, Florida (Ticker) -- After completing a hat trick earlier this week, Olli Jokinen needed an extra period to be the hero for the Florida Panthers.

Jokinen scored 2:11 into overtime to lift the Panthers to a 2-1 victory over the Dallas Stars.

Jozef Stumpel had a power-play goal and goaltender Ed Belfour stopped 33 shots and added an assist in the extra session for Florida, which has won a season high-tying three straight games.

"I thought we took the play to them in the overtime," Panthers coach Jacques Martin said. "We played a strong game throughout and Eddie (Belfour) made some big plays which was the key."

The Panthers also reached the .500 mark (26-26-13) for the first time since October 20.

"Three months we've been saying we're going to climb to .500 and now we're finally there," Jokinen said. "But there's no time to look back. Overall, it was one of the better games we've played."

With Florida on a 4-on-3 advantage in the overtime, Jokinen ripped a shot from just inside the blue line through traffic and past the glove of netminder Mike Smith with 2:11 left for his fifth game-winning goal of the season.

"I didn't look to pass," Jokinen said. "I just looked for an open lane to shoot it and tried to hit the net."

"I just lost sight of Jokinen's shot for a minute," Smith said. "He has a pretty hard shot."

On Tuesday, the team captain had his fourth career hat trick in Florida's 6-5 shootout victory over Washington.

Defenseman Darryl Sydor scored his fourth goal of the season on the power play and Smith made 34 saves for the Stars, who had a three-game winning streak snapped.

"I thought it was a game we didn't play close to our potential," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "We'll have to get a lot better."