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Horton scores in OT as Panthers top Lightning

Feb 18, 2007 - 5:09 AM SUNRISE, Florida (Ticker) -- Nathan Horton finally solved the mystery of the Florida Panthers' inability to win after regulation.

Horton scored 29 seconds into overtime and Stephen Weiss added a goal and an assist for the Panthers, who recorded their third win in four games with a 5-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Florida squandered an early two-goal lead before recording its first victory beyond regulation in 12 tries this season to hand Tampa Bay just the second loss in its last 10 road contests.

"We don't talk about (the overtime record)," Weiss said. "On the bench, we were like, 'Let's just throw it at them and see what happens. We've got nothing to lose.'"

"I think it builds confidence as well," Florida coach Jacques Martin added. "In the second period, we had some good chances, but we didn't capitalize a lot of times. ... I think we got two goals from the point. Just shots, putting pucks on the net with traffic. They were ugly goals, but you need that."

The Panthers wasted little time in the extra session as Horton flipped the second rebound of Weiss's shot from the doorstep over goaltender Johan Holmqvist's glove from the doorstep in the opening minute.

"The ice was getting bad down close," Horton said. "It was chippy. (I got) a loose puck there at the end, with Weiss getting it towards the net. I was able to shoot it, and it was a big win for us."

"(Horton is) a smart player," Weiss said. "He knows where to be. He's a goal-scorer. When he's hungry around the net, he's a tough player to stop. ... My job is to find Nathan. He's our money guy."

Defenseman Dan Boyle gave the Lightning a 4-3 lead by netting a power-play goal with 8:49 remaining in the second period. However, Ville Peltonen tied it with 8:32 to go in the third by converting captain Olli Jokinen's cross-crease feed.

"That play by (Peltonen) gave us a lot of energy," Weiss said. "Pelts is a gritty guy in front of the net, and that was a huge goal for us."

The Panthers jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first 4:02 before Martin St. Louis scored his 34th tally on a bad-angle shot from the right side that got past netminder Ed Belfour and under the crossbar.

After Eric Perrin forged a 2-2 deadlock with 8:57 left in the opening session, St. Louis completed his fifth multi-goal game of the season nearly 5 1/2 minuets later when he found the top left corner of the net.

Weiss and blue-liner Rusan Salei scored in the first period and Belfour made just 16 saves to record his 473rd career win as Florida evened the season series at two wins apiece.

"We were pretty sloppy the first two periods," Jokinen said. "We didn't forecheck hard enough. In the third, we were in their face and guys did a good job of drawing penalties."

"We've got nothing to lose," Weiss said. "We can't afford to sit back and play defense. We've got to go at teams and force them. ... If they're going to beat us, they're going to beat us (by) earning it."

Vincent Lecavalier collected two assists, giving him 31 points in his last 20 games, and Holmqvist stopped 25 shots for the Lightning, who had a three-game winning streak stopped.

"We just beat ourselves," Lightning coach John Tortorella said. "We just didn't play well in the third period in our end. We turned the puck over. It was just a fiasco as far as mistakes (go)."

Tampa Bay lost for just the fourth time in 18 games and fell to 10-3 after regulation this season.