SUNRISE, FLA. - After escaping with a hard-fought 4-3 victory Monday night over the Florida Panthers, the Carolina Hurricanes also hoped that winger Erik Cole escaped serious injury.

With the score tied 3-3 and 7:26 left, Cole left the game on a stretcher after crashing hard headfirst into the outstretched legs of Florida goaltender Tomas Vokoun. Skating low and fast down the right side chasing the puck moments earlier, Cole appeared to fall forward as Panthers defenseman Jassen Cullimore got entangled with him as he leaned into Cole.

Cole was taken to the nearby Cleveland Clinic in Weston, Fla., for observation after laying motionless on the ice for several minutes.

Team officials reported that Cole had demonstrated some movement in his limbs and had some pain in his trapezius muscle covering the upper back and shoulder region.

A team release later said that Cole had been released from the hospital and cleared to fly to Tampa with the team this morning. A CT scan was negative.

The sight of Cole face-down on the ice conjured an unpleasant memory from two seasons ago, when Cole fractured a vertebra in his neck after getting boarded.

"I think just with his previous injury, not knowing what's going on in there, it's just better to be safe," coach Peter Laviolette said.

Cory Stillman and Justin Williams each had two goals for the Hurricanes, and Stillman broke the stalemate with 1:06 left, gathering the rebound of a Trevor Letowski shot and shoving it back for Florida defenseman Steve Montador to inadvertently push it in the net.

It was Stillman's second goal of the game and almost as heads-up a score as his first goal 52 seconds into the period.

Hurricanes associate head coach Kevin McCarthy had already noted Vokoun's tendency to cheat behind the net whenever he thought the Hurricanes were about to dump the puck down the ice.

This time, however, Vokoun's overeagerness allowed Stillman a wide-open net from center ice.

"I caught him right at the end. I lifted my head and saw he was behind the net, so I took the shot from center," Stillman said. "As soon as I wound up, I could see he was gone."

The score put the Hurricanes up 2-1, but the lead lasted only 18 seconds before Florida center Stephen Weiss responded with a goal.

Carolina and Florida traded another pair of goals -- Williams on a quick wrist shot at the 3:31 mark, Florida's David Booth on a shot in front of the net moments after a Panthers power play expired -- before Stillman's winner.

Florida forward Jozef Stumpel drew first blood 2:56 into the game, taking a pass up the ice from Olli Jokinen for a breakaway score.

The Canes could not take advantage of nearly seven minutes of power-play time in the first period. But with 1:39 left in the period, Williams evened the score, barreling down the slot, taking a quick pass by defenseman Frantisek Kaberle and smacking the puck past Vokoun.

It was a nice turnaround for Williams, the Carolina winger acknowledged, 12 days after getting whistled for a critical diving penalty that wiped out a Carolina power play and helped fuel a Florida win.

"I was the goat last time," Williams said. "But we did what we could to get as many shots as possible to the net tonight."