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Vokoun, Panthers blank Islanders

Dec 8, 2007 - 5:27 AM By Mike Snyder PA Sportsticker Contributing Writer

SUNRISE, Florida (Ticker) -- Tomas Vokoun probably wishes he could play the New York Islanders more often.

Vokoun made 25 saves en route to his second shutout of the season as the Florida Panthers snapped a three-game losing streak with a 3-0 victory over the Islanders on Friday night.

Stephen Weiss and Nathan Horton provided most of the offense for the Panthers, with both tallying on the power play. Captain Olli Jokinen added an empty-netter for the final margin.

Spending the majority of his career in the Western Conference with the Nashville Predators, Vokoun has not had many chances to face the Islanders, but he always has made the most of those opportunities.

"They're not a bad team," Vokoun said. "You're not going to beat them 6-2. Their goalie played good, too."

Vokoun has won six of his eight career meetings with New York, including a pair of shutouts. In the seven previous matchups, the 31-year-old netminder posted a 2.11 goals-against average.

Vokoun was not challenged for most of this one thanks to a stout defensive effort by Florida. He needed to make just four saves in the first period, nine in the second and 12 in the third to secure his 23rd career shutout.

"If you don't (face) the shots, you still have to be sharp," Vokoun said. "We did the things we said we wanted to do. We wanted to shoot a lot, and we certainly did that. We capitalized on the power play."

The Islanders thought they had ended his shutout bid with 1:41 remaining in the game, but the goal was waved off because Sean Bergenheim had kicked the puck into the net. Video replay confirmed the ruling on the ice.

After a scoreless opening period, Weiss gave Florida a 1-0 lead at 8:30 of the second, when he fired the puck from the slot over goaltender Rick DiPietro's glove and into the top left corner of the net.

"In that situation, I had a green light to shoot," Weiss said. "I had a wide-open shot from the slot."

It was the fourth goal of the season for the 24-year-old Weiss, who less than two minutes earlier had come up short on a penalty shot. Weiss skated in on DiPietro and gently swatted the puck right into the goaltender's left pad.

"I had the same situation last year on him," Weiss said. "The same breakaway and the same move and he made the same save, so I was thinking I had to get it up, and I just didn't do it. It was nice to get a power play and the chance to get it back."

It was Florida's second missed penalty shot in as many games, as Kamil Kreps also failed to score on his attempt in Wednesday's 5-4 loss to Ottawa.

Horton doubled the Panthers' advantage early in the final session, when he skated across the ice while holding onto the puck for an extended time before shooting it past DiPietro for his eighth tally this season.

"He's a pretty good goalie," Horton said. "He's tough to beat head on, so I tried to move him a bit. He's pretty quick, too. It's nice that he fell and I had the open net."

Jokinen sealed the win with 12 seconds remaining, scoring into an empty net for his team-leading 15th goal.

For the Islanders, it was their fifth consecutive loss and marked the second time they have been blanked in seven days. The club suffered a 4-0 loss to the Atlanta Thrashers on Saturday.

New York coach Ted Nolan placed most of the blame for the latest loss on the team's inability to successfully kill penalties.

"(The Panthers) are a good special-teams unit," Nolan said. "There's only a certain amount of times you can take penalties and give one of the top power plays an opportunity to score goals, and that's what we did."

DiPietro had a solid outing, stopping 38 shots - including 16 in the second period.

"We're losing games and I think everyone's frustrated," DiPietro said. "We're not playing the kind of hockey we were playing at the beginning of the season, and because of that, we're not getting the positive results we're used to getting."

The Panthers had lost nine of the previous 12 contests against the Islanders at home, with the only wins coming on St. Patrick's Day in 2004, 2006 and 2007.