MONTREAL - A little rest helped Roberto Luongo get ready for a stellar hometown appearance.
Luongo stopped 32 shots, and Olli Jokinen scored his second goal of the game 1:19 into overtime as the Panthers beat the Canadiens 3-2 Thursday night.
Jokinen, who scored in the first period to reach 20 goals for the second straight season, flew down the left side and wristed a shot past Mathieu Garon for his 21st goal, ending Florida's three-game losing streak.
"It's important for us to step up, especially after a 5-0 loss against Toronto, so I think everybody responded well from that," Luongo said.
Luongo, a Montreal native, stopped 15 shots in the third when the Canadiens held a 16-4 advantage and pressed for the go-ahead goal.
"He gives us a great chance to win every single night," Jokinen said. "I think last week he was a little bit tired and he had a couple of bad games, but he got a night off against the Maple Leafs and we wanted to make sure he was ready to play tonight. He's been outstanding all year."
The Panthers ended their season series against Montreal unbeaten in four (2-0-1-1).
Florida's Josh Olson scored in his debut 1:40 into the period to put the Panthers up 2-1.
Florida won for just the second time in seven games (2-4-1).
FLYERS 2, STARS 2: Brenden Morrow's goal with 35 seconds left lifted visiting Dallas to the tie.
Rob DiMaio also scored for Dallas, 8-1-2 in its last 11 games. The Stars are three points behind Vancouver for fourth place in the West.
Marcus Ragnarsson and Tony Amonte scored for Philadelphia, which moved within two points of the Lightning for first place in the East.
Valeri Bure, playing his first game with the Stars, took a slap shot from the point that hit Morrow and slid past Flyers goaltender Robert Esche to make it 2-2 after Dallas had several chances to tie it seconds earlier during a power play.
Esche had 37 saves, including a one-handed stab on a shot by Jere Lehtinen late in overtime.
DEVILS 6, BLACKHAWKS 4: Patrik Elias scored twice late, and host New Jersey inched closer to the Atlantic Division lead by holding off Chicago.
Sergei Brylin, John Madden, Turner Stevenson and Grant Marshall also scored in the game the Devils labeled as a "must-win" after an embarrassing 3-1 loss at home to the Flyers on Tuesday.
The Devils moved within six points of first-place Philadelphia in the division.
BRUINS 3, SABRES 2 (OT): Mike Knuble scored his 20th 1:15 into overtime, lifting visiting Boston.
Jiri Slegr and Martin Lapointe also scored for the Bruins, who extended their unbeaten streak to four games (3-0-1). Miroslav Satan and J.P. Dumont scored for the Sabres, who are chasing the Islanders for eighth place in the East.
RED WINGS 4, BLUE JACKETS 2: Brett Hull snapped a tie midway through the third, and visiting Detroit stretched its unbeaten streak to six.
Jason Williams, a healthy scratch the previous 20 games, scored twice for Detroit, winner of eight of 11. Henrik Zetterberg added an empty-net goal.
BLUES 1, PREDATORS 1: Nashville, seeking its first playoff berth, remained one point ahead of host St. Louis for the final postseason spot in the Western Conference after a tie.
Kimmo Timonen scored for Nashville, and Eric Weinrich connected for St. Louis, which has been in the playoffs 24 straight seasons, the longest current streak in major-league sports.
FLAMES 4, SENATORS 2: Marcus Nilson scored twice, and Ville Nieminen's second goal in as many games was the winner for host Calgary.
Nieminen's unassisted goal at 9:16 of the third period came after Ottawa defenseman Chris Phillips had the puck skip past him at the Ottawa blue line. Nilson added an empty-netter with eight seconds left.
PENGUINS 3, MAPLE LEAFS 2: Ric Jackman, Rico Fata and Aleksey Morozov scored against backup Trevor Kidd, and visiting Pittsburgh won its season-high fourth straight.
Pittsburgh won despite allowing Toronto to record a season-high 46 shots to the Penguins' 17.
HURRICANES: Forward Jeff O'Neill will miss the rest of the season. O'Neill has a torn labrum in his right shoulder and is scheduled for surgery today. He will need two to three months to recover.
SHARKS: Right wing Miroslav Zalesak and defenseman Christian Ehrhoff were assigned to AHL affiliate Cleveland. Defenseman Kyle McLaren, who missed six games with a serious cut on his face, was activated.
