Vokoun Pitches Another Shutout

Tomas Vokoun.  What can you say?  Another shutout, his sixth of the season, his second in his last four games as he stopped 39 Maple Leaf shots in helping the Panthers beat the Maple Leafs after losing the previous two games against them this year.

This was not a pretty game by any means as Florida playing it’s first contest without the enigmatic Nathan Horton who is lost for 4-6 weeks with a broken leg,  got all the scoring they needed from Cory Stillman and Kenndal McArdle.  Stillman’s goal was on the power play with assists coming from Dennis Seidenberg and Stevie Wonder.  McArdle scored the insurance goal on a nice feed by Gregory Campbell (yes him) and put a very nice shot on the top shelf past Maple Leaf goaltender Jonas Gustavsson.  It was McArdle’s first NHL goal of his career.

It was nice for Kenndal also to be interviewed after the game on the Hockey Night in Canada broadcast by Jeff Marek. Good job by the CBC for doing that.  Boy, they are certainly a class act!  No one does a better job at broadcasting a game from start to finish like they do.

Could there be better things to come from Kenndal?  We’ll see as DeBoer apparently likes him quite a bit and maybe, just maybe, he can provide something besides energy on that fourth line.

Other than that, there was virtualy no excitement on the Panthers end as they basically shut down the Leafs.  Phil Kessel had five shots for Toronto leading them in an attempt to get something past Vokoun, however it was not to be as Tomas slammed the door shut again on another opponent.

Florida’s lack of offence appeared in full force last night and I’d say that they were lucky to be playing Toronto a team that’s slightly worse than they are.  While the Leafs has their chances Florida only mustered 22 shots on Gustavsson, but due to Vokoun’s stellar evening, the Panthers came out on top.

Weiss was held without a goal again as he now has only one goal in his past 13 games.  Not to rain on the parade cause it was a win, but he needs to get back in the grove.

Next up, an Uncle Jack reunion on Tuesday night as the Habs come to town with their high flying offence(?).  Well I say that only cause they beat the Rangers last night 6-0.  Who knows what team shows up for them as well.

My Molson Canadian Player of The Game:  Tomas Vokoun!

One quick note that was reported today at the Ottawa Sun.  The Panthers are reportedly interested in Rangers forward Ales Kotalik.  Go here for that and other NHL drama news.  His stats are awful and he’s making 3 million dollars and has always been a bit of a project.  For me, I say pass.  I’d rather pursue the Petr Sykora route.

Thanks for reading.

Cheers