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Panthers-Canucks Preview

Oct 11, 2010 - 4:29 AM By MATT BEARDMORE STATS Writer

Florida (0-0-0) at Vancouver (0-0-1), 10:00 p.m. EDT

Opening Night didn't go as planned for the Vancouver Canucks. They're hoping a visit from the Florida Panthers will produce better results.

The Canucks look to extend their home unbeaten streak in this matchup to 11 on Monday night when the clubs meet for the only time this season.

Celebrating the 40-year anniversary of the team's first NHL game and reigning scoring champ and MVP Henrik Sedin being named the club's new captain, Vancouver (0-0-1) lost a late third-period lead and fell 2-1 in a shootout to visiting Los Angeles on Saturday.

The Canucks' lone goal was scored by defenseman Christian Ehrhoff during a second-period power play.

"It's a little disappointing to lose our home opener, but it's a process," said Roberto Luongo, the club's former captain who made 31 saves before getting beat in both attempts in the tiebreaker. "We fought hard. Unfortunately it came down to a shootout."

The Canucks were fortunate to make it that far, needing a strong defensive effort from newcomers Dan Hamhuis, former Panther Keith Ballard and Manny Malhotra during a Kings' power-play in overtime that stayed in Vancouver's end the entire two minutes.

"Lu was great behind us and obviously kicking rebounds out, anytime you can deflect them out into the corners, it's big for us," Ballard told the Canucks' official website.

Luongo, who has a 1.92 goals-against average in four career starts against his former team, will try to extend the Canucks' home-ice edge in this matchup. Since a 2-1 loss in the Panthers' first game in Vancouver in March 1994, the Canucks have five wins and five ties at home in this series.

The Panthers (0-1-0) will look to keep Luongo busy after outshooting Edmonton 28-13 in Sunday's 3-2 defeat. Florida faced a league-high 34.1 shots per game in 2009-10.

"It was frustrating because I don't think we got rewarded for the effort we put out," coach Peter DeBoer said after his team began its three-game trip through Western Canada. "I thought we played a good game. We stuck to our game plan and did what we wanted to do. You should get rewarded for that and we didn't."

With secondary scoring a concern for a team that was 28th in the league last season with 2.5 goals per game, the Panthers are hoping veteran center Marty Reasoner can provide a boost. Reasoner, who posted his sixth career multigoal game Sunday, found the back of the net four times in 80 games for Atlanta last season.

The return of David Booth should also give the Panthers' offense a lift. Playing his first game since March 25 after missing the majority of 2009-10 due to post-concussion symptoms, Booth played nearly 20 minutes Sunday while assisting on Reasoner's second goal.

Steve Bernier, acquired in the offseason deal that sent Ballard to Vancouver, recorded two assists in his Panthers debut.

Defensively, Florida will look for a more consistent effort from Tomas Vokoun, who allowed three goals in a 5:47 stretch of the second period Sunday. He is 1-1-0 with a 2.88 in two starts against Vancouver since joining the Panthers in 2007-08.

If Scott Clemmensen gets the start, it will be his second career appearance at Rogers Arena.

Vancouver won 5-3 in Florida's last visit Dec. 14, 2008.