Last night the Florida Panthers’ offense was stymied by a 31 year old back up goalie making just his 33rd career start. As usual, the Panthers were unable to carry over their good effort and performance of the last 3 games, losing 3-1 to the New Jersey Devils on the road.

The Devils, who lost their long time All-Star goalie Martin Brodeur for the season, essentially put their #3 goalie on the ice last night and were it not for a late goal, the Panthers would have given Devils’ goalie Scott Clemmensen his first shutout in 4 years.

The Devils put the heat on the Panthers early, outshooting Florida 12-5 in the 1st period, but at the first intermission the game was still tied at 0-0. Florida turned the tables outshooting the Devils 10-1 in the 2nd period but two things went wrong. The Devils one shot on goal went in to give them a 1-0 lead 6:47 into the period. Secondly, the Panthers were absolutely stoned by Clemmensen in their 10 shots on goal. Right after the Devils took the lead, Clemmensen denied David Booth, Nathan Horton, and Michael Frolik on excellent scoring chances, looking like he was the veteran All Star in goal.

The 3rd period just got worse for the Panthers. Florida again outshot the Devils, 9-6, but New Jersey would score 2 goals in 1:01 to go up 3-0. The Devils 3rd goal was embarassing as New Jersey connected on 3 passes in the zone leading to an easy tap in for an unmarked player right in front of the Florida net.

On a small plus side last night, the Panthers were not shut out as Michael Frolik would score on the power play at 8:42 of the 3rd period to save face, a little. The Panthers offense has been improving in one aspect at least, the power play. The Panthers are 7-20 on the power play in their past 5 games and have failed to score a power play goal in just 1 of the last 5 games, and scored two power play goals in 2 of the 5 games. Now if only the Panthers could get some wins.