10/20/05  Florida 3, Washington 2

Florida 3, Washington 2  

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) -- The Florida Panthers' turned their special-teams play around in a hurry against the Washington Capitals.

Anthony Stewart and Mike Van Ryn scored on power plays, and Juraj Kolnik added a short-handed goal in Florida's 3-2 victory Thursday night.

``The play of our special teams has been losing us games,'' Van Ryn said. ``It was nice to win one that way.''

The Panthers entered the game with the 29th-ranked power play in the NHL, and they had allowed three power-play goals in each of the last two games, losses at the New York Rangers and New Jersey.

``We needed to be better on the power play, and we were,'' coach Jacques Martin said. ``Overall, I thought that the special teams were the difference in the hockey game.''

Rookie Alexander Ovechkin scored both goals for Washington. The top pick in the 2004 draft, Ovechkin has a point in each of Washington's eight games, the longest scoring streak in the league.

``We're lucky to have him,'' Washington coach Glen Hanlon said. ``He's an incredible person. He's had a great start to his season and it continues for him.''

Kolnik and Van Ryn scored in the second period when the Panthers broke a 1-1 tie and set a franchise record with 28 shots. Florida outshot Washington 49-31 overall.

``We didn't score a lot of goals, but our main focus has been to get more shots, said Florida captain Olli Jokinen, who assisted on Van Ryn's goal. ``That's what's good about tonight. We had close to 50 shots, and that's a positive.''

Roberto Luongo stopped 30 shots for Florida, 4-1 at home.

Olaf Kolzig made 46 saves for Washington.

``Ollie gave us an opportunity to win a game as he always does,'' Hanlon said. ``But at the end of the night we didn't deserve to win the hockey game.''

After Ovechkin gave Washington the lead with his fifth goal of the season, Stewart tied it with his first NHL goal in his second career game.

Stewart put in a loose puck in the crease after Jay Bouwmeester's wrist shot from the point was tipped and went through Kolzig's legs and off the post.

``It's a terrific feeling,'' said Stewart, recalled from Rochester of the AHL on Tuesday. ``For me to be successful up here, I have to keep the pressure on in front of the net and be aggressive.''

Kolnik gave Florida a 2-1 lead at 12:07 of the second period after blocking Jamie Heward's pass in the Washington zone with his skate as he fell down. Kolnik then got to his feet and fought off Heward to beat Kolzig with a wrist shot to the stick side.

``I was trying to put as much pressure on as I could,'' Kolnik said. ``The puck came right between my legs. When I saw it, I wanted to put the puck on the net. I knew the goalie wouldn't be ready for a quick, early shot, so I kept it low and it went in.''

Van Ryn completed the second-period scoring with a slap shot off the post from the top of the faceoff circle.

``We've been trying to have a shot mentality in our heads,'' Van Ryn said. ``Tonight we got some pucks through. When you get the puck on net, good things happen.''

Ovechkin pulled Washington to 3-2 at 17:21 of the third period when he streaked down the left side and flipped a shot that trickled in off Luongo's shoulder.

``We didn't have a good second period,'' Heward said. ``We played well in the first period and in the third period, but we had a breakdown in the second and gave up too many shots.''

Notes

Florida's previous record for shots in a period was 26, done in the second period against Pittsburgh on Feb. 12, 2004. The 28 shots also set a Washington record for shots allowed. The previous mark was 27 against Pittsburgh in a 12-1 loss on March 15, 1975, in the Capitals' first NHL season. ... Florida C Chris Gratton was back in the lineup after missing three games because of a groin injury. ... Washington D Bryan Muir didn't travel with the team because of a groin injury. He hasn't played since Oct. 12.

Check out some classic hockey quotes...

Jim McKenny:  "Half the game is mental; the other half is being mental."

Jacques Plante:  "How would you like a job where, every time you make a mistake, a big red light goes on and 18,000 people boo?"

Brett Hull:  "I'm not dumb enough to be a goalie."

Doug Larson:  "Ice hockey is a form of disorderly conduct in which the score is kept."

Wayne Gretzky:  "You miss 100% of the shots you never take."

Gordie Howe:  "American professional athletes are bilingual; they speak English and profanity." 

Jimmy Cannon:  "A puck is a hard rubber disc that hockey players strike when they can't hit one another."

Rodney Dangerfield:  "I went to a fight the other night and a hockey game broke out."

Paul Coffey:  "When we've got the puck, they can't score."

Ken Dryden:  "There are two types of forwards. Scorers and bangers. Scorers score and bangers bang."

Stu Grimson, Chicago Blackhawks left wing, explaining why he keeps a color photo of himself above his locker:  "That's so when I forget how to spell my name, I can still find my (expletive) clothes."

Tony Amonte, on possessing the NHL’s second-longest active playing streak:  "It must be the body. It’s chiseled out of marshmallows."

Herb Brooks, 1980 US Olympic hockey coach:  "You don't have enough talent to win on talent alone."

Jeremy Roenick, on the trade rumors around captain Keith Tkachuk: "The only difference between the Coyotes and ‘Days of Our Lives’ is that nobody has been shot on our team yet."

Phil Esposito, on his daughter Carrie getting engaged to  Alexander Selivanov: "I tried to talk my daughter out of going with a hockey player but, he’s a good kid. He asked me if he could marry Carrie before he asked her.  I said: "You want to what?’ I thought he was just going to ask for more ice time."

Serge Savard, on his firing from Montreal, "I have to thank the guy who fired me because he was also the guy who hired me."

And last but certainly not least...

Reggie Dunlop: . They spent their own dough to get here, and they came here to see us! All right, let's show 'em what we got, guys! Get out there on the ice and let 'em know you're there. Get that fuckin' stick in their side. Let 'em know you're there! Get that lumber in his teeth. Let 'em know you're there!