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Cole's overtime goal lifts Hurricanes over Panthers

Dec 24, 2006 - 5:43 AM SUNRISE, Florida (Ticker) -- Erik Cole could not have picked a better time to extend his points streak.

Cole scored the game-winning goal at 1:59 of overtime to lift the Carolina Hurricanes to a 3-2 victory over the Florida Panthers.

With Carolina on the power play in in the extra session, Scott Walker's shot from a sharp angle was stopped by Ed Belfour. The rebound squirted right to Cole just outside the crease and he banged it in for the win.

"Cory (Stillman) found a great seam over to Walks (Scott Walker) and Walks hammered one, and it just came off right at me and I just reacted," Cole said. "I just tried to stop it but it (the rebound) came off so hard that it just bounced right off my stick and in."

"They're a team that doesn't quit," Florida center Chris Gratton said. "That's why they won the Stanley Cup. They fought right to the end. It was a hard-fought game for both teams, and it could have gone either way."

Cole, who has 15 goals this season, extended his points streak to five games in which he has three goals and two assists.

Ray Whitney had a goal and an assist while Jason Williams scored the other goal for Carolina, which won its fourth straight game.

"We weren't prepared to play the game, that's for sure," Carolina right wing Justin Williams said. "We kind of regrouped, but we still didn't play a great game tonight. Johnny (Grahame) played a great game for us. They did catch us on a back-to-back, so that maybe was a factor, but we're certainly happy with coming back to win."

Olli Jokinen led the Panthers with a goal and an assist while Gary Roberts had the other Florida tally.

"I don't think there's anybody over here who's satisfied with our position right now," Jokinen said. "We're second to last in the conference, but we got seven points out of a possible eight, so we've got to look at the big picture."