Panthers rout ‘Canes behind goalie Vokoun

There’s an old saying that ‘the best offense is a good defense’.  The Florida Panthers had both offense *and* defense on Thursday day as they routed the host Carolina Hurricanes 5-0 behind a stellar performance from goaltender Tomas Vokoun and another onslaught from their suddenly red hot offense.

Vokoun stopped 42 Carolina shots for his 4th shutout of the season, and his teammates took all of the pressure off as they quickly opened the scoring and continued building on their lead throughout the contest.  Nathan Horton’s 15th goal of the year quickly followed by Richard Zednik’s 11th of the season lifted the Panthers to a 2-0 first period lead.  They added three more in the second, with tallies from Anthony Stewart (2), Gregory Campbell (12) and Michael Frolik (12). 

Carolina outshot the Panthers throughout the contest, but had no answer for Vokoun who was named the game’s ‘first star’.  The Hurricanes put 15 shots on net in the first period, 14 in the second and 13 in the third but didn’t get any numbers on the big scoreboard that really matters.  For the game, Carolina outshot Florida by a whopping 42-23 margin.  The Hurricanes lifted starting goalie Cam Ward midway through the second period after the 4th Florida goal, with Michael Leighton playing the rest of the way.

‘canes forward Ray Whitney said that his team wasn’t undone by the 2-0 first period deficit, but that two quick goals in the 2nd were the ‘backbreakers’:

"We still thought we were fine after the first period. Those two quick ones in the second obviously killed us. From then, confidence kind of slips a little bit and it just snowballs."

Carolina had entered the game having won 6 of 8, and facing a Florida team that had only won once in their previous 18 trips to Raleigh.   Hurricanes forward Tuomu Ruutu didn’t mince words:

"It was 5-0 in your home building. It's not acceptable."

In the other locker room, Vokoun downplayed his stellar performance:

"We got some goals early and we basically controlled the game from there on out."

Carolina hosts Washington on Saturday night before traveling to Buffalo for a Sunday night contest.  They’ll host the NHL best Boston Bruins on Tuesday.  The Panthers return home for three tough games against the New York Rangers (Friday), the Washington Capitals (Sunday) and the New Jersey Devils (Tuesday).