Sunrise, FL (My Sportsbook) - David Booth's goal with 1:06 left in overtime lifted the Florida Panthers to a 3-2 win over the Atlanta Thrashers at BankAtlantic Center.

With time winding down in the extra session, a centering pass in the Atlanta end was deflected by a Thrashers skate. The puck was redirected toward the goal and Kari Lehtonen was in position to make an easy save, but couldn't hang onto the disc with his glove.

Instead, the puck slid in front of the crease and Booth came crashing in to push the puck into an open net for the win.

"It was like a knuckleball coming at (Lehtonen), and it hit the heel of his glove and bounced right back out," Thrashers coach John Anderson said. "But, I thought, really, from the third period on we stopped playing. We didn't attack them."

Booth finished with a pair of goals -- his first career multi-goal game -- while Stephen Weiss added a score and an assist for Florida, which notched its first win of the season in its first home game of the campaign. The Panthers dropped their season opener on Friday, 6-4, to Carolina.

"Overtime's tough. You want to score, but at the same time you don't want them to score and give up the chance to win in a shootout," Weiss said. "So, we were fortunate enough to get the goal in overtime, which is huge."

Keith Ballard and Richard Zednik each recorded two assists for Florida, while Tomas Vokoun stopped 31-of-33 shots in the win.

Jason Williams and Vyacheslav Kozlov each scored for the Thrashers, who opened their season Friday with a 7-4 victory over Washington. But Atlanta couldn't match that firepower, and registered no shots in overtime.

Lehtonen stopped 35-of-38 shots, and Johan Hedberg made one save in the first period for Atlanta.

Kozlov got the game's scoring started at the 9:12 mark of the opening period. Ilya Kovalchuk rifled a pass from the left side of the ice to the right post, and Kozlov was there to redirect it across the goal line.

But just two minutes later Booth had the equalizer. Weiss scooped up a rebound and fed the puck into the slot for Booth, whose one-timer beat Lehtonen.

Nineteen seconds into the middle period, Weiss tipped in a pass to put Florida in front, but with 3:03 left in the same stanza, Williams tied the game with a goal just after a faceoff.

The third period was scoreless, and Lehtonen stopped several scoring chances of Florida's in overtime before allowing the game-ender.

Game Notes

Panthers defenseman Bryan McCabe was diagnosed with a back contusion and strained lower back after an MRI exam on Saturday. McCabe suffered the injury in Florida's 6-4 season-opening loss to Carolina on Friday, after taking a hit along the boards in the second period. The exam ruled out much more serious conditions like fractured vertebrae, and McCabe is expected to miss at least two weeks...The Panthers won five of eight meetings between the clubs last season, but was just 2-2 at home.