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Fernandez, streaking Bruins shut out Panthers

Dec 7, 2008 - 4:07 AM By Rick Menning PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

SUNRISE, Florida (Ticker) -- Despite entering with a three-game winning streak, the Florida Panthers could not find a way to stop the red-hot Boston Bruins.

Manny Fernandez won his seventh consecutive start and Phil Kessel continued a torrid goal-scoring pace as the Bruins blanked the Panthers, 4-0, on Saturday.

Kessel converted a power-play chance for his 16th goal of the season, and the Bruins also received tallies from Michael Ryder, defenseman Shane Hnidy and Blake Wheeler. David Krejci

collected three assists.

"You just go out there and try not to do anything fancy," Kessel said. "You get a scoring chance like that on the power play and you want to make the most of it."

Fernandez recorded his 15th career shutout and first of the season by making 27 saves for Boston, which has won eight of its last nine games to move atop the Eastern Conference with 40 points.

"Manny's just been getting better and better all the time," Boston coach Claude Julien said. "He just keeps responding."

The veteran netminder turned aside nine shots in the first, 11 in the second and seven in the third.

"(The shutout is) a good stat, but I really want to win," Fernandez said. "That all comes with having teammates who make it easy on you by playing so well."

After pinning a 4-2 loss on the Panthers in Boston on November 21, the Bruins ended Florida's consecutive-game points streak at six. The Panthers had gone 4-0-2 since their setback

at TD Banknorth Garden.

"They play their system well and don't give you much of anything around the net," Florida's Stephen Weiss said. "We just have to regroup."

Boston jumped ahead when Ryder fought past the tight checking of Gregory Campbell and unleashed a wrist shot from the high slot that beat goaltender Craig Anderson at 9:02 of the first period for a 1-0 advantage.

"(Campbell) was pretty much all over me, but I managed to get the shot off," Ryder said. "Maybe I caught (Anderson) off-guard a little because he might have thought I was being pressured."

Anderson, who entered the game with a league-leading .947 save percentage, had surrendered only one first-period goal over his previous three contests.

He faced more trouble early in the second with the Bruins on the man advantage.

Kessel doubled Boston's advantage at 2:44, when his shot from the left faceoff circle found the far side of the net for his sixth goal in five games. The tally gave him an 11-game points streak, the longest current run in the NHL and second-longest this season.

"I'm just fortunate to get all the opportunities to score, but that goes along with your teammates helping you to find open areas," Kessel said.

While Kessel continued his surge, Hnidy tallied for the first time this season at 2:21 of the third to make it 3-0. Wheeler added his ninth with 6:24 left to cap the scoring.

"It's all about pushing guys to keep good habits going," Julien said. "Right from the start, we were moving the puck well and pushing the play."

Anderson made 24 saves before leaving after being crashed into by Patrice Bergeron at 12:47 of the final session. Tomas Vokoun saw his first action since November 26 at home against New Jersey and stopped four of the five shots he faced.

"We didn't lose because of goaltending tonight. We were overmatched," Florida coach Peter DeBoer said. "We would have needed everything to go right, and we didn't get it."