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BOX SCORE
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) -- Although Pavel Bure's first goal was the milestone, it was his second that caused the celebration.
| | Pavel Bure said No. 300 was nice, but it was the next one he'll remember. |
Bure scored the 300th goal of his career, and added his 301st in
overtime as the Florida Panthers beat the Boston Bruins 4-3
Saturday night.
Bure, whose 34 goals tie him with Pittsburgh's Jaromir Jagr for
the NHL lead, rebounded a shot by Viktor Kozlov 1:31 into overtime
to score his 301st goal. Earlier in the game, Bure become the
seventh-fastest player in NHL history to score 300 goals.
"I was just looking for Pavel," Kozlov said. "I just shot to
the net and Pavel scored. It was so simple."
Simple and successful.
"The overtime goal, that was just a huge individual effort by
Kozlov," Panthers coach Terry Murray said. "He's got some
world-class players on him on that particular play. He takes it to
the net. Pavel is finding his spot as he normally does, around the
net, looking for something."
The puck glanced off goalie Byron Dafoe and defenseman Don
Sweeney before coming back to Bure, who buried it.
"It feels pretty good, but the big milestone in the NHL is 500,
so I have a long way to go," Bure said. "(No.) 301 I'll probably
remember for a long time."
Kozlov, who assisted on both of Bure's goals, deserved a lot of
the credit for the game-winner according to Bure.
"He played well the whole game," Bure said. "The last goal,
he was carrying the puck for 30 seconds. I guess (the Bruins)
didn't know what to do because they couldn't get the puck out of
him."
Florida, 6-1-1 in its last eight, ended a two-game winless
streak and stopped Boston's five-game unbeaten streak.
Bure's 300th goal gave the Panthers a 2-1 lead at 3:47 of the
second. He scored when he knocked in the puck from just in front of
the crease past Dafoe.
His 34 goals also set a team single-season record for goals,
breaking a tie with Ray Whitney (1997-98) and Scott Mellanby
(1995-96). Florida is 20-1-2 this season when Bure scores.
"It's a big accomplishment for him," Whitney said. "Anyone
who gets 300 goals nowadays is someone special. Even better, he got
301 for us."
The game-winner was his eighth as a Panther -- breaking the mark
held by Johan Garpenlov and Ray Sheppard.
The Panthers, playing their seventh game in 11 days, took a 1-0
lead at 16:12 of the first on Whitney's 20th goal. Bure broke free
down the center of the ice and slid the puck to Whitney, who buried
it from the left circle after Dafoe came up in the crease.
"Well, we tried to keep it in there and it bounces out and you
know you get two on one with Bure and Whitney," Bruins coach Pat
Burns said. "It's pretty scary."
Four goals were scored in a 2:09 span in the second to give
Boston a 3-2 lead.
The Bruins tied it 1-1 on a shot by Marty McSorley that went
over goalie Mike Vernon's left hand.
After Bure gave the Panthers a 2-1 lead, Steve Heinze and Landon
Wilson scored goals 25 seconds apart to put the Bruins up 3-2.
Wilson's goal broke a 27-game scoreless streak dating to April 17,
1999.
Mark Parrish tied the game at 3 at 12:19 of the second off a
feed from Whitney.
The game was played before 18,423 fans at the National Car
Rental Center, Florida's largest home crowd of the season. The
Panthers had lost four of their previous five at home against the
Bruins.
"I was looking for (Bure) the whole time," Kozlov said of the
final rush to the goal. "It was a very big win for us, because
this is a conference game. It was a very big two points for us."
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Boston Clubhouse
Florida Clubhouse
Long-in-the-tooth Bourque, minus some teeth, returns to work
RECAPS
Carolina 4 Buffalo 1
Montreal 4 Pittsburgh 2
NY Islanders 2 Tampa Bay 0
Detroit 3 Ottawa 2
Washington 5 Toronto 5
Florida 4 Boston 3
NY Rangers 4 St. Louis 1
Vancouver 3 Edmonton 3
San Jose 4 Anaheim 3
AUDIO/VIDEO
Pavel Bure hits the game-winner for Florida.
avi: 1372 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Ray Whitney gets the perfect feed from Bure.
avi: 1201 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Marty McSorley scores for the Bruins.
avi: 789 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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