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Corvo's OT goal lifts Hurricanes past Panthers

Dec 19, 2008 - 4:02 AM RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Joe Corvo appears to have a knack for scoring the game-winner.

The defenseman scored with 44 seconds left in overtime to lift the Hurricanes to their third straight home win, a 2-1 victory over the Florida Panthers on Thursday in a battle of Southeast Division rivals.

With the score knotted at 1-1 and time running down in the extra session, Corvo took a pass from Ray Whitney and drove into the slot. Corvo deked a defender and unleashed a quick backhanded shot over the glove of Panthers goaltender Tomas Vokoun.

It was Corvo's fifth goal of the season and third game-winner.

"You can't plan stuff like that," said Corvo, who also netted the game-winner in Tuesday's 3-2 triumph over the Montreal Canadiens. "I thought there'd be a goalie in there."

The play also gave Hurricanes captain Rod Brind'Amour his 700th career assist. Brind'Amour now is one of four active players with at least 400 goals and 700 assists, joining Joe Sakic, Mark Recchi and Mike Modano.

"I was just made aware of it this morning," Brind'Amour said of his milestone. "No one knew about it in here, so it's not that big a deal, obviously. It's something that when you're done and you look back, it's nice to have these kinds of milestones. But the big thing was the win. We deserved that win, I thought. Great play by Corvo. Spectacular."

Corvo also had an assist on Justin Williams' power-play goal and Cam Ward made 19 saves for the Hurricanes, who outshot the Panthers by a 37-20 margin.

For Williams, it was his first goal of the season after coming back from a preseason Achilles tendon injury that kept him out of the first 25 games.

Williams, who now has a goal and a pair of assists in five games, said he hardly could believe his tough-angle shot went in.

"I had to do a double take," Williams said. "I know it's not going to be the quickest turnaround for me, but I'm working my way there and working hard. Soon, I'll be the same guy I was before I got injured."

Cory Stillman netted the lone goal and Vokoun turned aside 35 shots for Florida, which is 6-2-1 over its last nine contests.

Even though the Hurricanes controlled most of the play, the Panthers still managed to record a point thanks to Stillman, who tied the contest at 2:29 of the third period with his sixth goal of the season.

Stillman stepped out of the penalty box and took a pass up the middle from Kamil Kreps before beating Ward on a breakaway.

"For taking the penalty early in the period, I got rewarded," Stillman said. "They could have had momentum by scoring on that opportunity. To get to overtime is all because of Tomas Vokoun."

Vokoun, who got a majority of the starts to begin the season, has played in only three of the last 11 games. He was optimistic, as was Florida coach Peter DeBoer.

"Tomas gave us a chance to pick up a point tonight," DeBoer said. "He only let in one (in regulation). If you're only going to give up one on the road, that's pretty good goaltending."