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Wednesday, Jan. 5 10:30pm ET
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ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- Viktor Kozlov took a night off from his normal playmaking and started playing like Pavel Bure.


	Viktor Kozlov's decision to shoot more and pass less paid off big for the Panthers on Wednesday.

Kozlov ended a six-game goal-scoring drought with his first hat trick, and Bure had a goal and two assists as the Florida Panthers beat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 5-1 Wednesday night.

"Kozzy's been playing great," linemate Ray Whitney said. "He's handling the puck with confidence and he's using his body better than he ever has.

"He's doing things that a guy who's 6-foot-6 with those skills should be doing. At times, I think he overhandles the puck instead of shooting it. But with a shot like his, I think he could be a goal-scorer if he wanted to."

Whitney had a goal and an assist for the Panthers, 6-3-2 against the Ducks since the teams entered the NHL in 1993. Jaroslav Spacek and Robert Svehla each recorded two assists.

Anaheim lost for the fourth-straight game.

Kozlov broke open a scoreless game with a pair of power-play goals just over two minutes apart in the first period.

Guy Hebert was yanked after surrendering three first-period goals for the first time this season.

"Overall we were just horrible tonight," Paul Kariya said. "The power play and special teams let us down."

Kozlov, who leads the Panthers with 25 assists, began his scoring binge midway through the first with a 35-foot slap shot from the left circle that snuck between Hebert's legs. His next goal was a one-timer from above the left circle.

"Kozlov's got a great shot, and we've been talking to him from the time he's come to us about shooting the puck," coach Terry Murray said of the six-year veteran, who once had a hat trick for Dynamo Moscow in the European Cup. "The puck seemed to go in for him tonight.

"I would not encourage a couple of those shots on a consistent basis because it's not going to happen," Murray said. "But he saw something tonight and it was good to see them go in."

The Panthers' third goal came with just three seconds left in the period. Bure carried the puck across the blue line and faked a shot in the left circle before Whitney redirected Bure's centering pass past Hebert.

Kozlov's third goal gave Florida a 4-0 cushion at 5:11 of the second. The Panthers' center was credited with his 11th goal after his attempted centering pass for Whitney banked off defenseman Niklas Havelid and past relief goalie Dominic Roussel.

The hat trick was Florida's fourth of the season and first by someone other than Bure, who scored four times in the Panthers' previous game on New Year's Day.

Kozlov became the first player to get a hat trick against the Ducks since Feb. 17.

A breakaway goal by Anaheim's Jeff Nielsen six minutes into the second period prevented Mikhail Shtalenkov from blanking his ex-teammates for the fourth time in five starts.

The seven-year veteran had two shutouts this season with Phoenix and a 1-0 win last January with Edmonton.

Shtalenkov is 6-1 against the Ducks and has stopped 135 of 138 shots in his last five outings against them.

"Shtalenkov's played very well," Murray said. "I think that moving around from team to team the last couple of years has been hard on him. You keep wondering why it happens when you're at that stage of a guy's career, but his résumé in world hockey is outstanding and he's won some very big games for us."

Bure ended the scoring 1:50 into the third with his 26th goal. The Panthers are 15-1-1 this season when Bure scores.

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