Olli Jokinen

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. - Nearly two weeks after it occurred, the Richard Zednik throat-slashing incident is a fading memory for most of the Florida Panthers. But teammate Olli Jokinen, whose skate accidentally cut Zednik, admitted yesterday that he is having a harder time getting past it. "It's been tough for me," the center said. After Jokinen's right skate kicked up and sliced through Zednik's neck in that game in Buffalo on Feb. 10, he was adamant that the game should have been stopped and finished another night.

Olli Jokinen wouldn't allow the Florida Panthers to lose. Jokinen helped kill an overtime penalty, then scored his second power-play goal with 1 minute, 38 seconds left in overtime to give the visiting Panthers a 5-4, comeback victory over Phoenix last night. Florida's Juraj Kolnik and Mike Van Ryn tied it with goals 28 seconds apart in the final 1:47, just after Paul Mara and Daymond Langkow scored 2:14 apart to give the Coyotes a 4-2 lead. "We didn't want to lose this game," said Jokinen, who assisted on Kolnik's goal.

Even Vancouver coach Marc Crawford thought the Canucks' unbeaten streak was coming to an end. But Marek Malik scored with 1:58 left in overtime as visiting Vancouver overcame a three-goal deficit and beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-3, last night, stretching its unbeaten streak to 10 games. Vancouver came back after being down, 3-0, in the third period, snapping Detroit's three-game winning streak. "Down, 3-0, I thought it was over, to be honest," Crawford said. Malik's winner came off a pass from Brendan Morrison on a two-on-one break.

Olli Jokinen scored three goals to help the Florida Panthers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-2, in Sunrise, Fla. last night. It was Jokinen's third career hat trick and his second this season. Jozef Stumpel and Martin Gelinas each had a goal and two assists for Florida. "It's always nice to score goals, but it goes hand-in-hand with your top players being at their best and giving your team a chance to win," Jokinen said. Evgeni Malkin and Colby Armstrong scored for Pittsburgh, which has lost three in a row after winning three straight.

Minnesota's power-play unit continues to be the team's unlikely savior. Andrew Brunette and Lubomir Sekeras scored power-play goals during a 5-minute span in the first period, leading the Wild to a 2-1 victory over visiting Nashville last night. Manny Fernandez made 19 saves for Minnesota, which entered the game 0-for-30 on the power play against Nashville. The Wild had the NHL's worst special-teams unit last season. "We're just bulldozing along on the power play," Brunette said.

The New York Rangers traded right wing Alex Kovalev to the Montreal Canadiens last night for forward prospect Josef Balej and a second-round pick in this year's draft. A week before the NHL's March 9 trade deadline, the Rangers began the dismantling of the team that is all but eliminated from the playoff race for a seventh straight season. General manager Glen Sather announced last week when he gave up his coaching duties that changes were about to take place and he started with Kovalev.

The end of the Buffalo Sabres' winning streak didn't seem to cool them off at all. Buffalo rallied from a three-goal, third-period deficit and beat host Boston, 5-4, in a shootout last night, with Ales Kotalik scored the tying goal with 95 seconds left in regulation and then converting the last shot in the shootout. "I still can't believe it happened. I guess that's what we're capable of," said goalie Ryan Miller, who stopped 30 shots and then two out of three in the shootout.

The Florida Panthers finally won at home. Valeri Bure scored two goals to help the Panthers snap a five-game home winless streak with a 6-3 victory over Pittsburgh last night. It was the Panthers' first home win since Oct. 9. Stephen Weiss, Niklas Hagman, Mike Van Ryn and Olli Jokinen also scored, and Roberto Luongo made 18 saves for the Panthers. "There was a lot of pressure on the team with the distraction of home-ice advantage or disadvantage," Panthers coach Mike Keenan said.

The Florida Panthers had problems holding leads during their six-game winless streak. A rally ended the skid. Viktor Kozlov, Matt Cullen and Juraj Kolnik scored third-period goals to help the Panthers beat visiting Montreal last night, 4-2 for their first victory since Nov. 24. Olli Jokinen also scored for the Panthers, 0-2-3-1 during their skid. The Panthers blew leads in four of those games, including three advantages of two goals or more. "I think we've really improved as a team," Cullen said.

The Pittsburgh Penguins will have to wait to find out if Marian Hossa is the ideal linemate for Sidney Crosby. Crosby said after practice yesterday he will need another week to recover from a high-ankle sprain, starting with tomorrow's game with the Flyers. "I'm just going to take a week here to give it more time to rest," Crosby said. "It's just one of those nagging things. I know what's coming up in the future, and I want to make sure I give it the best possible chance to be strong.

The clock showed 3.7 seconds when Jay Bouwmeester's shot from the left point appeared to hit Ryan Parent's skate before sliding into the net, to gasps from the Wachovia Center crowd. The Florida Panthers had tied the game and forced an overtime. "It's another way to lose a game," center Danny Briere said after last night's 2-1 overtime loss to the Panthers, the Flyers' 10th consecutive defeat. "It's frustrating. No doubt about it. At the end there, you have to do everything in your power to prevent that from happening.

Nearly 2 weeks after it occurred, the Richard Zednik incident is a fading memory for most of the Florida Panthers, but center and team captain Olli Jokinen acknowledged he is having a hard time getting past it. "It's been tough for me," he said. "You can be here smiling all the time, but if you were on the ice, if it were your skate, you could imagine what you'd be going through. " It was Jokinen's right skate that kicked up and sliced Zednik's neck in the game in Buffalo on Feb. 10. In the immediate aftermath, Jokinen skated to rinkside TV reporter Rob Ray and asked to see a video replay, asking, "Was it me?

Upon hearing Richard Zednik's recovery from a life-threatening neck laceration could last 6 to 8 weeks, Olli Jokinen checked his calendar. That would be playoff time in the NHL. And suddenly, the Florida Panthers have a huge source of postseason motivation. Zednik continued what some termed a remarkable recovery yesterday, when his condition was upgraded to good and he was moved out of the intensive care unit at Buffalo General Hospital. That was just 2 days after Jokinen's razor-sharp skate blade sliced the 32-year-old forward's neck during a game against the Sabres, cutting his carotid artery and stopping just shy of his jugular vein.

Florida Panthers forward Richard Zednik underwent surgery to close a deep gash on the right side of his neck, after he was cut by a teammate's skate during a game in Buffalo against the Sabres last night. Zednik remained in stable condition at a Buffalo hospital. Blood gushed from Zednik's neck midway through the third period of Buffalo's 5-3 victory, creating a frightening moment that delayed the game for about 15 minutes. Zednik was behind teammate Olli Jokinen who was upended by Sabres forward Clarke MacArthur.

From the Flyers' perspective, Olli Jokinen picked a bad time to end a pointless streak. The strapping 6-foot-3, 214-pound center from Finland scored two early goals last night at the BankAtlantic Center as the Florida Panthers snapped the Flyers' five-game winning streak with a 4-3 victory. It was an ugly way for the Flyers to start an eight-game road trip, and was compounded by the loss of Simon Gagne to dizziness after he was drilled by Jay Bouwmeester on the first shift of the game.

"Crazy" Eddie Belfour played his 22d consecutive game last night. Not bad for the Florida Panthers goalie, who is 41 years old and recently moved into third place on the all-time victory list. Belfour now has 478 wins after a 2-1 victory against the sluggish Flyers at the Wachovia Center. He was the ultimate difference, stopping 26 shots. "He was the player of the game," Simon Gagne said. After four consecutive games of fairly inspired hockey in which the Flyers resembled playoff contenders, they showed up on fan appreciation night and looked indifferent for 40 minutes.

Lee Stempniak's power-play goal 25 seconds into overtime gave visiting St. Louis a come-from-behind, 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders last night in Ryan Smyth's debut on Long Island. Stempniak had an open shot from the left circle off a pass from Eric Brewer and beat Rick DiPietro to the far corner to give the Blues their sixth win in seven games (6-1-0). The Islanders were cruising to a 2-0 victory with less than 3 minutes left in the game when Jay McClement and Petr Cajanek scored in a 38-second span to force overtime.

Olli Jokinen scored three goals to help the Florida Panthers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-2, in Sunrise, Fla. last night. It was Jokinen's third career hat trick and his second this season. Jozef Stumpel and Martin Gelinas each had a goal and two assists for Florida. "It's always nice to score goals, but it goes hand-in-hand with your top players being at their best and giving your team a chance to win," Jokinen said. Evgeni Malkin and Colby Armstrong scored for Pittsburgh, which has lost three in a row after winning three straight.