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Jokinen, Campbell lift Panthers past Flyers

Oct 25, 2007 - 3:31 AM SUNRISE, Florida (Ticker) -- Olli Jokinen's two goals gave him two team records. Gregory Campbell's two goals gave his team two points.

Jokinen became the franchise leader in both goals and points, but Campbell's tallies enabled the Panthers to defeat the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-3, on Wednesday.

Three minutes after the Flyers tied the game at 2-2, Campbell gave the Panthers the lead with just under six minutes remaining in the second period.

The 23-year-old center scored his first goal of the season at 14:16 by wristing a shot from above the left faceoff circle which confused goaltender Martin Biron and trickled across the goal line.

Campbell added another tally in the third period after R.J. Umberger failed to clear the puck from Philadelphia's zone. Campbell backhanded it over Biron's shoulder to give the Panthers a 4-2 advantage.

"That's what I work for," said Campbell, who is known for taking extra shots after practice. "I know what my responsibility on this team is, but I want to be a complete player. It was nice that things could pay off for me tonight."

"We really have to give some credit to some of our grinders," Panthers coach Jacques Martin said. "Two goals by Gregory Campbell, (that's) big."

Defenseman Lasse Kukkonen halved the deficit with just over seven minutes remaining in the third with his first goal of the season. Pressing in the offensive zone, he circled the net and deflected the puck off blue-liner Ruslan Salei and past netminder Tomas Vokoun.

The Flyers were unable to get the equalizer, however, and saw their five-game winning streak come to an end.

"Tonight, just little mistakes (were the difference)," Biron said. "That's the way it happens. Look on that first goal, I shouldn't have given that rebound right in the slot, and that's the way it got started.

"That puck the last few weeks was sticking to me and finding a way to just stay in my gear. Tonight, it just snuck through."

Jokinen's milestone goals staked the Panthers to a quick 2-0 advantage in the first period.

The 10-year veteran now has 356 points with the Panthers, passing Scott Mellanby (354) for first place on the franchise list when he beat Biron with a wrist shot at 2:35 for his first goal of the game.

The tally was the third of the season for Jokinen, who went three games without registering a point. Prior to that drought, Jokinen tallied six points in his first five games.

Drafted third overall by Los Angeles in 1997, Jokinen added a power-play goal midway through the opening period to double Florida's lead. It was his 158th tally as a Panther, moving him ahead of Mellanby for first place in that category as well.

"It's nice, but in the big picture, it's a team sport," Jokinen said. "I've been lucky enough to play with good linemates and be in position to play on specialty teams. If I would have done my job over here, I would have broken those records a couple years ago."

Jokinen, who has never made the playoffs in his time in Florida, said leading the Panthers to the postseason is the primary goal.

"I had a rough start here the first couple years," Jokinen said. "The main thing is the team getting wins and we keep building. For me, there's no reason to look ahead or look back. I'm just going to keep going and get this team to win.

"At the end of the day, those points and goals don't mean anything if the team doesn't go in the playoffs."

The Flyers battled back quickly, scoring on their first two shots of the second period to tie the game at 2-2.

"We were dominating the game before they got those two goals," Jokinen said. "We were controlling the game."

Joffrey Lupul's power-play goal 9:25 into the session halved the deficit, and Jeff Carter converted a 2-on-1 rush with Umberger less than two minutes later to knot the contest.

Philadelphia's Simon Gagne left the game with dizziness after being hit by Florida defenseman Jay Bouwmeester in the first period and did not return. He is not expected to miss any time, however.

Richard Zednik and defenseman Bryan Allen each had two assists for the Panthers, who improved to 3-1-0 at home this season.

Vokoun stopped 20 shots for Florida, while Biron made 38 saves for Philadelphia.

"We got beat to some loose pucks in front of our net, and we just allowed them too much time with the puck in our end," Flyers coach John Stevens said. "We haven't been doing that to this point."