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Weiss, Vokoun help Panthers outlast Capitals in shootout

Nov 29, 2007 - 5:01 AM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- The Florida Panthers are getting comfortable with the shootout.

Stephen Weiss scored the decisive goal in the 11th round of the bonus format and Tomas Vokoun made 32 saves to lead the Panthers to their fourth straight victory, a 2-1 triumph over the Washington Capitals on Wednesday.

Florida also edged the New York Rangers, 3-2, in a shootout in its previous game Friday.

With the shootout even at 3-3, Weiss skated in, deked to his left and beat sliding goaltender Olaf Kolzig with a backhander.

"I wanted to shoot, but I didn't see much room, so I just deked him and it worked out," Weiss said.

Vokoun then stopped defenseman Brian Pothier's attempt to preserve the win in the longest shootout of the season and second-longest in Capitals' history.

"It was a relief when I stopped that shot," Vokoun said. "Getting two points and getting a win, that's why we came to the rink today. It's frustrating when you can win and you don't stop the puck, and we don't score and you have to stop the puck, but that's how it is.

"I played in international competition, and shootouts over there means elimination, so it's a lot worse than playing for one point here. They are fun to win and tough to lose. It's always going to be like that, so you have to enjoy when you're on top because you don't know how the next one is going to end up."

Captain Olli Jokinen, who scored the decisive goal in Friday's shootout, netted his seventh career goal in the bonus format, tallying in the second round to give Florida the early advantage. But former Panther Viktor Kozlov answered in the third round, beating Vokoun between the pads with a wrist shot.

Nathan Horton scored for Florida in the fourth round, but rookie Nicklas Backstrom immediately answered on his first career shootout attempt.

Brooks Laich had a chance to win it for the Capitals in the sixth round, but his backhander went wide of a vacant net.

"I was hoping it would end when we had the final shot all those times," Capitals interim coach Bruce Boudreau said. "We had the opportunity. Brooks had a whole net and shot wide. You start to think you are snakebit after a while."

Florida's Kamil Kreps and Washington's Boyd Gordon each tallied in the eighth round of the bonus format. Both teams failed to score over the next two rounds, setting the stage for Weiss.

Kolzig praised Voukon for leading the Panthers to victory.

"Let me give some credit to the other guy over there, he made a great save on (Alex Ovechkin) in overtime and the power play," Kolzig said. "And he made a couple of big saves in the third where we could have just walked away with it. What can I say? This team has our number."

Florida is 3-0-0 against Washington this season.

With the victory, the Panthers improved to .500 with one game remaining this month. Florida has not been above the break-even mark at the end of November since the 1999-2000 campaign, which also was the last time they made the playoffs.

"We put ourselves at the start of the season in a bad position, and it takes a lot of work to get the results," Vokoun said. "We've got to make sure we play hard."

Vokoun narrowly avoided disaster midway through overtime. Michael Nylander dumped the puck on net from center ice and it took an unusual bounce, skipping past Vokoun but trickling just wide.

Vokoun, who made seven saves in the extra session while his team failed to record a single shot, made a game-saving stop with 13 seconds left, gloving Ovechkin's one-timer.

"He moved and got lucky," Ovechkin said. "If he was lefthanded, it would have been a goal. He didn't move but made the save. It's OK, though, I'll get it next time."

Vokoun credited his defensemen for helping him through the tough stretch.

"We played our triangle well, and obviously (Ovechkin's) got a great shot," Vokoun said. "I just moved over, got my glove in position, and luckily I was fortunate enough the puck went in my glove."

"I thought we did a great job penalty-killing tonight," Panthers coach Jacques Martin said. "To be able to keep those guys like Ovechkin off the scoreboard on their power play was a huge job, especially in the overtime (while playing) 4-on-3. I thought the guys did a good job of blocking shots and showing desperation."

A costly turnover in their own zone cost the Panthers the lead in the second period. After intercepting an ill-advised pass by blue-liner Steve Montador in the slot, Chris Clark immediately fired a shot past Vokoun with 5:33 remaining to knot the contest at 1-1.

"The one goal they got, I thought we gave to them," Martin said. "I thought we had a tremendous first period. After that, we lost our momentum. Tomas Vokoun played a big part in keeping us in the game, and the penalty-killing."

Former Capital Richard Zednik gave Florida a 1-0 lead at 4:49 of the opening session with a power-play goal.