Florida 4, Atlanta 3

SUNRISE, Fla., Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Obtained on waivers from the New York Rangers less than two weeks ago, Daren Van Impe scored a gift goal with 10:45 left in the third period Monday to lift the Florida Panthers to a 4-3 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers.

Van Impe took advantage of the presence of superstar Pavel Bure, tapping the puck into an unguarded net.

Ivan Novoseltsev passed to Bure, who whiffed on an attempted shot but got enough of the puck to make it slide across the slot. Expecting a blast from Bure, goaltender Milan Hnilicka was out of position when Van Impe was in the right place at the right time for the easy goal.

The third time was a charm for the Panthers against the Thrashers this month. Atlanta won the first meeting, 5-1 on Dec. 1, and the teams skated to a 3-3 tie last Wednesday.

Florida erased a 2-0 first period deficit on a pair of goals by Markus Nilson and one by Bure.

Nilson scored his first with 2:51 left in the opening period after goals by Per Svartvadet and Shean Donovan slotted Atlanta the 2-0 advantage.

Nilson beat Hnilicka from down the middle of the ice for his sixth goal of the season after Jason Wiemer won a battle by the right boards.

He scored his second of the game at 9:50 of the second period with a hard slap from the left circle on a setup by Viktor Kozlov and Jason Wiemer, who assisted on both goals by Nilson.

Bure tied it earlier in the period at 2:57 while four on four when defenseman Bret Hedican made the decisive pass from the right faceoff circle. Olli Jokinen cycled around and dropped the puck to Hedican, who continued the play to Bure for a sharp angle one-timer over Hnilicka's glove side.

While Hedican followed Saturday's career-best four-point performance against Toronto, Jokinen also got a second assist on Nilson's first goal.

Svartvadet took advantage of a center ice turnover at 4:21 in the first period to beat goaltender Roberto Luongo to the right side for his first goal since March 16, 2001.

Donovan doubled the advantage for Atlanta on the power play at 14:58. He was in the slot to the right of Luongo when Novoseltsev's clearing attempt from the left corner fluttered to him for a top shelf wrist shot for his sixth goal.

Frantisek Kaberle gave Atlanta hope for at least a point when he leveled the terms with a power play blast from inside the blue line at 3:16 of the third following a faceoff win by Tony Hrkac.

That lasted only 5:59 before Van Impe notched the winner. Luongo made 25 saves for his 10th victory of the season.