The Florida Panthers might have found a cure for their banged up, ailing offense - goalie Tomas Vokoun.
Vokoun stopped 39 shots for his second shutout in four games and the Panthers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-0 on Saturday night. Kenndal McArdle netted his first NHL goal, and Cory Stillman also scored for the Panthers.
Florida was without right winger Nathan Horton, who broke his left leg during Thursday's 2-1 shootout loss to the New York Islanders. Horton, who has 17 goals and 29 assists through 51 games this season, is expected to miss four to six weeks because of a fractured tibia. Left wing David Booth is also still recovering from a concussion he sustained in October.
``We've got Booth and Horton out of the lineup, it's our seventh game in 10 nights. It's a gutsy win,'' Panthers coach Pete DeBoer said. ``Our goaltender was great early, gave us a chance to get out of the first period. Considering the circumstances, I thought it was a real gutsy effort.''
Jonas Gustavsson made 20 saves for the Maple Leafs.
``We worked through the whole game,'' Gustavsson said. ``I think the guys deserved better.''
Vokoun has six shutouts this season and 37 in his NHL career. His last came Monday night against Atlanta, when he stopped 27 shots in a 1-0 win.
``It's always nice when you get on a roll,'' Vokoun said.
McArdle made it 2-0 with 6:55 left. He took a pass from Gregory Campbell and scored with a wrist shot from the right circle.
``It was great to be able to score that goal and get a win, as well,'' McArdle said. ``It's just a win-win situation and I was just really happy that our team was able to hold on.''
Stillman opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 4:36 of the second period. With Tomas Kaberle in the penalty box for tripping, Dennis Seidenberg fired a slap shot from just inside the blue line that hit the end boards and bounced back out past the net. Stillman, positioned in the crease, poked in the rebounding puck.
``Their goaltender had a pretty good game,'' Toronto coach Ron Wilson said. ``I thought we managed the ice really well, but they got a lucky bounce off the back boards on their power-play goal. We couldn't get any bounces on our power play. You can't fault their effort, they played really hard but couldn't score.''
NOTES: The Maple Leafs and the Panthers next meet March 23 in Toronto. ... C Matt Stajan left early in the first period after he was hit in the face with a puck. Stajan skated to the bench after leaving a pool of blood on the ice, but returned to the game. ... Seidenberg was also hit with a puck in the second period and returned.
