Vokoun Leads Panthers Over B's

Green seats were rare tonight in the BankAtlantic Center but that didn't distract Tomas Vokoun and the Florida Panthers from stopping the Bruins. For the Bruins, it was just their 2nd game in 6 days and 1st since Tuesday. One could make the case for rust, but it doesn't stick. They got outplayed and most notably by Czech goalie Tomas Vokoun.

Vokoun, a 2007 All-Star goalie struggled greatly as the season began, at one point even losing his starting job to Craig Anderson. However, there's no question that the 32 year old is returning to All-Star form. In the month of February, Vokoun is 7-2-0 with a 1.66 GAA including 3 shut-outs. With 2 of those shut-out's coming against Eastern Conference powerhouses in both Boston and New Jersey the play of Vokoun will undoubtedly be the deciding factor in whether the Panthers make the playoffs or not.

It's official. We've found the Bruins biggest flaw. When you shut down the powerplay, the Boston Bruins are going to struggle to score goals. Twice tonight the Bruins were gifted with a double minor powerplay and failed to score on both chances. As the Bruins finished the night an awful 0-6 on the powerplay, they also let up an untimely shorthanded goal that put the Panthers up 1-0.

There was no doubt that following Radek Dvorak's 1st goal scored in the first 2 minutes of the 3rd period the momentum was shifted into the Panthers hands, where it stayed for the rest of the night. From there on out, the Panthers defense stymied the Bruins on every attempt in their zone, causing frustrating play after play for the Black and Gold. Once again, the Bruins found themselves unable to stay on-sides, a new found problem for the Bruins.

Is the loss of Michael Ryder affecting the Bruins more than they'd like to admit? How much longer can GM Peter Chiarelli watch the Bruins offense struggle before he feels heat to make a move for a Nik Antropov or Erik Cole? Tomorrow, the Bruins travel to Tampa Bay where they'll play the cellar-dwelling Tampa Bay Lightning in a rare Sunday 5 o'clock game.