“You can’t get on the guys for not trying,’’ said Bruins coach Claude Julien, who saw his boys put 19 pucks on Vokoun in the second period while limiting the Panthers to a lone shot. “This game, for anybody who watched it, if they didn’t know the final score, they probably would have said that it was our game. We were the better team out there. It happened that we didn’t manage to score.
“I would prefer giving credit tonight to the other goaltender for keeping his team in the game and coming up big.’’
The Bruins had gone through a shootout drill at Ristuccia Arena a day earlier. Chara, who hadn’t been tapped for shootout action in a game this season, was one of the players Julien selected to participate in the drill. On his first attempt, Chara swooped in on Thomas and backhanded a riser just under the crossbar. On his second attempt, Chara wound up and powered a slap shot past Tuukka Rask.
Last night, as Boston’s third shooter, Chara skated down the right wing, cut into the slot, then tried a backhand roofer. But Chara missed.
Vokoun stuffed Ryder on the forehand, then celebrated after watching Stillman beat Thomas.
Vokoun, who has three shutouts in his last four starts, had one of the finest games of his career. Even when he didn’t see the shots coming, the lefty-catching goalie was in perfect position to block the bids, then got help from his defensemen when Bruins skaters came sniffing around for rebounds.
“I think it was a point lost - a point that we probably deserved,’’ Julien said. “Sometimes those things happen. It was pretty lopsided for most of the game. They came out a little better in the third. But we ran into a hot goaltender. A real hot one tonight.’’
