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Stoll, Horcoff lead Oilers to improbable win

Jan 25, 2008 - 4:53 AM SUNRISE, Florida (Ticker) -- When the Edmonton Oilers reach a shootout, they rarely fall short.

Jarret Stoll scored twice in the final 83 seconds of regulation and Shawn Horcoff netted the lone tally in the shootout as the Edmonton Oilers rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Florida Panthers on Thursday.

Mathieu Garon stopped 32 shots, including a game-clinching stop of Florida captain Olli Jokinen in the bonus format, as the Oilers improved to a league-best 12-3 in shootouts this season.

"Our goalies make saves," Stoll said. "They're good in the shootouts. It's not too many times I remember anyone getting more than one on us. Matty and Rolo (Dwayne Roloson) do a great job and get us the saves and we've got some good shooters. There's our shootout record."

Stoll, who had been held without a point in five games, scored twice in a span of 31 seconds to help Edmonton force overtime.

After Garon turned away Nathan Horton in the first round of the shootout, Horcoff beat All-Star netminder Tomas Vokoun between the pads.

Edmonton's Kamil Kreps was stopped and, after rookie Sam Gagner was denied, Garon stopped Jokinen to seal the win.

"It was a miraculous win," Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish said. "I thought we did enough to deserve the result, but the way it happened is always a long shot. ... It wasn't easy. It was a poster example of what's been happening to us, except for the good breaks at the end."

It was the direct opposite for the Panthers who have now lost all three home games to Western Conference teams in shootouts.

"It was one of those nights," Jokinen said. "One point is better than zero I guess."

Stoll keyed the win with his brilliant performance late and was assisted on both his tallies by Ales Hemsky.

With Edmonton down, 3-1, Hemsky sent a pass to Stoll at the blue line and the fifth-year center blasted a slap shot past a screened Vokoun to slice the lead to one with 1:23 left in regulation.

The Oilers then pulled Garon while on the power play and it paid off with the equalizer.

Edmonton continued to attack and with the puck sent around the boards, Vokoun left the net to retrieve it but misplayed it.

That opened the door for Hemsky, who fired a shot from the right side that Vokoun stopped, but Stoll put back the rebound with 52 seconds left in regulation.

"You can get lucky once in a while, can't you?" Stoll said. "We were hoping we'd get another power play. "There was still a minute left and it was time to do something. I could see he (Vokoun) was out and I was trying to throw it at him and see if I could get a lucky break. Sometimes you get those lucky bounces."

Those bounces sent the Panthers into the All-Star break losers of seven of their last 10 games.

"It was going flat and all of a sudden it started bubbling and jumped over my stick," Vokoun said.

Florida snapped a 1-1 tie early in the third with tallies from Brett McLean and Jokinen, which seemed to put them in line for a win.

But Vokoun, who stopped 37 shots, cost the Panthers with his late lapse in judgment, denying them a second straight home win.

"The way the hockey gods work sometimes is pretty cruel and they got a couple of really lucky bounces on their tying goal," McLean said. "So it was really tough to lose a point like that when it looked like we had a stranglehold on it."