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Auld looks for another wining effort in goal for Panthers

Oct 18, 2006 - 2:25 PM Florida (3-2-1) at Washington (1-1-2) 7:00 pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- The Florida Panthers brought in a pair of new goaltenders to open the season. Of the two, Alex Auld is off to a much better start.

The 25-year-old Auld looks for his fourth victory in five outings Wednesday when the Panthers try to continue their recent dominance of the Washington Capitals.

After going 33-26-6 with the Vancouver Canucks last season, Auld and Todd Bertuzzi were sent to Florida for netminder Roberto Luongo, defenseman Lukas Krajicek and a sixth-round pick on June 23.

The Panthers also signed 41-year-old Ed Belfour as a free agent on July 25. Ranked second on the career victories list (457), he has lost both games with Florida this season, posting a 5.55 goals-against average.

Stephen Weiss scored his third goal of the campaign and Belfour made 32 saves for the Panthers, who had their two-game winning streak snapped with Saturday's 4-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Coming off a 29-win season in 2005-2006, the Capitals have just one victory in four outings, including a pair of losses after regulation.

Jamie Heward, Chris Clark and Dainius Zubrus scored goals for Washington in Saturday's 4-3 overtime loss to the Atlanta Thrashers. The Capitals were 1-for-9 on the power play and are 4-for-32 with the man advantage this season.

Florida won the first seven encounters with Washington last season before the Capitals posted a 2-1 overtime victory April 15.