Carolina wins meaningless game, Olli Jokinen writes a check his ass can't cash

Last Sunday, after Carolina snatched victory from the Panthers, many of the players angrily accused Carolina of being divers. It was the second time in a row that Carolina won a game against Florida on a power play goal in overtime.

Among other things, Jokinen told the Miami Herald that in order for the Panthers to beat Carolina they would

``have to play within the rules, and sign five or six guys who can dive every time you touch them.''

Then he went on to say that they wouldn't let it happen again. At the time, Carolina still had a chance to make the playoffs. The Panthers were ruled out and he at least wanted to spoil Carolina. He stopped short of using the words "Guarantee" and "Win", but that's pretty much what he was doing when he said:

'We have to make sure . . . they don't make the playoffs,'' Jokinen said. ``We have to get two points out of there.

``This team has stolen so many points from us, we have to win that last game and make sure they don't go anywhere. I'd rather see Tampa and Atlanta make it than this team.''

So anyway, among the silver linings that can be found in missing the playoffs, there's this:


Carolina overcame a 4-1 third period defecit to force overtime against the Cats. Carolina got regulation goals from Eric Staal, Erik Cole and two from David Tanabe. Florida got their goals from Ville Peltonen, Olli Jokinen, Jay Bouwmeester and Marty Gelinas.

Early in the overtime period, Bryan Allen was called for kneeing, which gave the Canes a man advantage. It was Allen's hook on Sunday that made Belfour lose his composure, which gave the Canes the two man advantage. I don't know about the kneeing call, but Carolina couldn't convert. In fact, Allen had a chance to wipe it all away when he was awarded a penalty shot just after coming out of the box. He missed his chance, though. As time wound down in regulation, Allen found a way to be the goat anyway. He turned the puck over to Rod Brind'Amour in neutral ice, and the Captain cashed in on the breakaway gift.

Unfortunately, Ed Belfour wasn't in nets for the Panthers.

More stuff about the game, including pictures later.