Last night the Panthers made a big impression in an important statement game for them. Florida came into last nights matchup with the Carolina Hurricanes leading their opponent by 1pt in the Eastern Conference playoff standings, holding on tightly to the last playoff spot in the East. A win would give the Panthers some nice breathing room, a loss would have put Carolina back ahead of them by 1pt.

The Panthers came out a little sluggish and were out hustled at times by Carolina, but the Panthers played tremendous defense all night, led by Tomas Vokoun in goal. Vokoun saved one of his best games for the perfect time as Carolina out shot Florida in every period (15-8, 14-9, 13-6) but Vokoun was ready stopping all 42 shots he faced, earning his 4th shutout of the season.

Florida would make the most of the few shots they mustered through the first 2 periods of the game. Nathan Horton opened the scoring at 7:31 of the 1st, putting Florida up 1-0. Richard Zednik found the back of the net at 12:49 to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead after one period.

In the 2nd period Florida would put the Hurricanes away for good. Anthony Stewart and Gregory Campbell would score 12 seconds apart (at 9:18 and 9:30) to double Florida’s lead to 4-0 by the midpoint of the 2nd period. Michael Frolik would add a 5th goal at 13:33 to finish the scoring for the game. After a defensive 3rd period, Florida prevailed 5-0.

Florida could not have asked for a better outcome than the one they got last night. On the road, against a division opponent, with playoff implications and the Panthers blanked their opposition. Not only was this game important for the Panthers playoff chances, the win giving them a 3pt lead now over Carolina, it actually bumped them up to 7th place in the Eastern Conference ahead of the slumping Buffalo Sabres. Florida also gains a great mental bonus from the win and momentum heading into a difficult stretch over the next 8 days. The Panthers will play host over the next 8 days to the top 4 seeds in the Eastern Conference (starting with the NY Rangers tonight, followed by Washington, New Jersey, and Boston) and the #4 seed in the Western Conference, the Chicago Blackhawks.

Last night’s win was great, now its time to put it behind you and move forward and get things done against some top notch competition in the coming days.