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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) -- With so much attention paid to Pavel Bure,
the rest of the Florida Panthers had it pretty easy against the New York Rangers.
Mike Vernon got his first shutout of the season, team captain Scott Mellanby scored for the first time in 15 games and Peter
Worrell knocked down two Rangers on one memorable shift Wednesday night as
the Panthers beat New York 3-0.
|  | | Florida wrecking ball Peter Worrell flattens New York's Theo Fleury. |
"We're capable of doing this every night," said Vernon, who
made 25 saves. "We just haven't done it with any consistency, and
that's what championship teams do."
Vernon, who has 23 shutouts in 14 seasons, made a stick save to
stop a breakaway by Petr Nedved and preserve a 2-0 lead with 13
minutes to play. Vernon's last shutout came at Phoenix on Feb. 8,
1999.
The Rangers constantly shadowed Bure with defenseman Brian
Leetch often playing on the left wing, opening up plenty of scoring chances for everyone else.
Even though Bure scored his league-leading 41st goal, New York was
satisfied with the game plan.
"I think it went very well and it was very effective," Rangers
coach John Muckler said. "Leetch was the right guy to play that
position because of his hockey knowledge and the way he can skate.
He can take shifts as long as Bure can take them, but you can only
do it so long because then you fall behind."
The Panthers, who improved to 21-5-2 at home, scored the lone
goal in the first period. Bure's slap shot from just outside the
right circle deflected off the stick of New York defenseman Mathieu
Schneider and past Mike Richter.
Worrell set the tempo for the physical game. On one sequence, he
knocked Nedved and Theo Fleury to the ice.
"It was fun," Worrell said. "The only thing better would have
been to get Leetch, too. That's one of the parts of my game -- to be physical."
Florida made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 15:25 of the
second. The Rangers' Valeri Kamensky, bleeding badly after taking a
puck to the face, was off with an interference penalty after he
grabbed Worrell's stick.
The Panthers scored 31 seconds into the man advantage on Ray
Sheppard's one-timer past Richter. After Richter stopped Dan Boyle's shot, Worrell settled the puck at the top of the right faceoff circle to Sheppard, who
was wide open in the slot.
"We never seemed to quite get back in the game after that," Richter said.
The Rangers went nine minutes without a shot to end the second
period. Though Richter made several good saves -- stopping
breakaways by Bure and Oleg Kvasha in the third period -- he
couldn't keep Mellanby from scoring from point-blank range.
Richter stopped Mellanby's first shot with just more than 12
minutes to play, but Mellanby backhanded the rebound in to give
Florida a 3-0 lead. The goal was Mellanby's 12th of the season and
first in 15 games.
"I thought tonight's game was a very complete game," Panthers
coach Terry Murray said.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
NY Rangers Clubhouse
Florida Clubhouse
Head to head: Bure vs. Rangers defense
In the Corners: Kidd close to return
RECAPS
Montreal 5
Atlanta 1
Detroit 5
Vancouver 2
Florida 3
NY Rangers 0
Buffalo 1
Pittsburgh 1
Boston 3
Toronto 3
Los Angeles 4
Chicago 1
Dallas 3
Nashville 0
Anaheim 6
Calgary 5
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Pavel Bure blasts it by Mike Richter for goal No. 41.
avi: 1005 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Ray Sheppard lights the lamp to give Florida a 2-0 lead.
avi: 602 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Scott Mellanby puts home his own rebound for the score.
avi: 693 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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