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Hurricanes rally for overtime win

Apr 8, 2007 - 5:06 AM RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- The Carolina Hurricanes' season to forget ended with a game to remember.

Captain Rod Brind'Amour scored on a breakaway with 24 seconds remaining in overtime to give the Hurricanes a dramatic 5-4 comeback victory over the Florida Panthers.

Earlier this week, the Hurricanes (40-34-8) were eliminated from playoff contention, becoming the first Stanley Cup champion since the 1996 New Jersey Devils to miss the playoffs the following season. However, Carolina seemed to recover some of last season's magic in this one.

"It was fun hockey there at the end and we just felt good," Brind'Amour said. "We were just going for it. I'm glad for the people that were here that we were able to put a smile on their face, because they supported us all year."

"It means a lot that we could win for the fans," Carolina defenseman David Tanabe added. "They stuck behind us. The last two nights, the booing was held to a minimum, and they don't know how much that means. We, as players, are as disappointed as anyone. This is going to stick with us all summer long, missing the playoffs. To have the fans, the faithful, stick behind us is a great thing."

Entering the third period with a 4-1 deficit, the Hurricanes began chipping away at the lead when Tanabe scored his second goal of the game at 5:31 and Erik Cole netted his 29th of the season with 7:47 remaining, cutting the deficit to one.

"I think we just started getting some opportunities, and we capitalized on them," said Tanabe, who recorded his first career multi-goal effort. "We gained some momentum and we sensed some excitement from the crowd, and we started getting into it ourselves."

Eric Staal drew Carolina even with less than 4 1/2 minutes to go, putting a rebound past netminder Craig Anderson during a power play for his 30th tally.

Brind'Amour, who added an assist, completed the comeback in the extra session with his 26th goal. After picking up a loose puck at the Panthers' blue line, he dashed toward net and beat Anderson for the winner.

Ville Peltonen, captain Olli Jokinen, defenseman Jay Bouwmeester and Martin Gelinas tallied and Nathan Horton added two assists for Florida. Gelinas' goal was the 300th of his career.

Panthers blue-liner Bryan Allen had a chance to end the game when he was awarded a penalty shot with 2:23 remaining in overtime. But John Grahame was up to the taks, turning away the shot to keep the contest even.

"You've got to give them credit, we had a 4-1 lead in the third period and I don't know what it is with us in that situation," said Allen, who admitted to being nervous on the penalty shot. "They've got a lot of different players who have been involved in a lot of different situations. They didn't win the (Stanley) Cup for no reason."

Carolina has won 10 straight home meetings with Florida, which has not made the playoffs in six consecutive seasons.