Panthers Blanked By Caps, 3-0
WASHINGTON (CBSMiami.com) – In the offseason, the Florida Panthers decided they didn't need goalie Tomas Vokoun anymore. Tuesday night, Vokoun made the Panthers pay for that decision.
Vokoun manned the net for the Washington Capitals and shut out the Panthers to help the Caps to a 3-0 victory over the Cats. For the game, Vokoun had to stop just 20 shots on goal.
It was Vokoun's 45th career shutout in the NHL and helped the Capitals improve to 5-0 on the season, which is the best start in the franchise's history.
"It's my old team, so you want to win and you want to play good," Vokoun said. "It wasn't like I was looking at the game and saying, 'I've got to win.' I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy, but when you win you're happy every time. I was as happy when we beat Ottawa or Pittsburgh."
In the net for Florida was rookie Jacob Markstrom who stopped 29 of 31 shots. The Caps final goal was scored on an open net.
"He had a good solid game for us," Panthers coach Kevin Dineen said of Markstrom. "Not the way you want your debut to go, but he didn't get a heck of a lot of support."
The Panthers are off Wednesday and return home Thursday to play the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday and the New York Islanders on Saturday.
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