SUNRISE, Fla. cheap jerseys . -- The Carolina Hurricanes took advantage of solid goaltending on their end and an unexpected change in the other net. Jiri Tlusty scored twice and Anton Khudobin stopped 35 shots to lead the Hurricanes to a 3-0 victory over the Florida Panthers on Thursday night. Khudobin recorded his first shutout this season with the Hurricanes, and the third of his career. His last shutout was March 31, 2013, at Buffalo as a member of the Boston Bruins. Jeff Skinner also scored for the Hurricanes. "Its always good when you (dont) get scored on in a game. But the most important is we just got the W," Khudobin said. Dan Ellis, who played last season for Carolina, started the second period in relief of Roberto Luongo and made 18 saves. Luongo left the game after the first period with an upper body injury sustained in a collision with Carolinas Radek Dvorak. The Panthers described it as a precautionary measure. Luongo stopped 11 of 12 shots. Dvorak was assessed a game misconduct at 12:48 of the first when he crashed into Luongo and sent him into the net, knocking it off its moorings. Floridas Erik Gudbranson was assessed a roughing penalty for engaging Dvorak in retaliation. "I?made the shot and then I was driving like 100 miles per hour to the net and then I got a little push," Dvorak said. "Next thing I?knew I was in the net with Louie, but it was not intentional at all. Thats not my style." Dvorak, who has a home in the area, had over 20 family members and friends attending the game, only to see him exit early. "Obviously, you want to finish the game because you want to play in front of your family, in front of your friends, but sometimes you have a little bit of bad luck," Dvorak said. "But the thing is we got two points after the game, which is more important for us." Khudobin was pleased with his own play but concerned about Luongo. "I?hope hes OK and hes not going to have anything, but at the same time its just hockey," Khudobin said. "Sometimes it happens, but I?dont feel good about it." It didnt take long for the Hurricanes to take advantage of the goalie change as they scored two goals in five minutes. Tlusty scored his second goal after he grabbed a loose puck to the left of the net. Ellis fell down in the crease and wasnt able to reach across to block the shot from the left side. Tlusty found the net at 2:30 of the second for his third two-goal game of the season and a 2-0 lead. The Hurricanes stretched their advantage to 3-0 on Skinners goal. He took a pass from behind the net and his shot from the right side beat Ellis on the stick side at 5:46 of the second. "Its never a fun situation because you know your partner . something might not be good with him," Ellis said. "Thats the job and you have to be ready when they call you. I wish I could have made two more saves." The Hurricanes took a 1-0 lead on Tlustys first goal 9:09 into the first period. Eric Staal grabbed a loose puck along the left boards and brought it toward the net. He passed to Tlusty low in the right circle. Tlusty was able to work the puck and get Luongo out of position and score on a wrist shot. "Tonight we scored the first goal, which is always better than being one down. Everyone came ready," Tlusty said. NOTES: Gudbranson returned to the lineup after missing the past nine games with a knee injury. ... The Hurricanes won all three games against the Panthers this season. ... Khudobin has started five of the past six games for the Hurricanes. wholesale jerseys ... thanks to every "buddy" that was involved. cheap jerseys from china . But in the aftermath a 115-91 pounding of the Utah Jazz on Saturday night, Toronto Raptors head coach Dwane Casey insisted it was still invaluable for evaluating the depth of his team early in the season.Despite making the playoffs for the first time since joining Major League Soccer, Montreal Impacts 2013 season ended with a massive letdown. It wasnt just the 3-0 loss at Houston in the Eastern Conference Knockout Round that hurt; it was the manner of the defeat and the total loss of discipline. As the team prepares to head to Orlando for the final stage of their training camp, there is a different feel around the Impact squad following the appointment of new head coach Frank Klopas to replace the fiery Swiss manager Marco Schallibaum. "Frank is settling in. He has put certain messaging and systems in place," Impact sporting director Nick De Santis said on TSNFC this week. "We made the right decision to move forward and go in a different direction and up until now, we have a very good relationship with Frank. We know what he wants and he knows what we want." "If we go back to that game in Houston, the result, the actions by certain players can give you an idea of what went on for the last two months, the last 10 games of the season. It was very frustrating." "In my position and in Joeys (Impact president Joey Saputo) position, the easiest thing to do was to reconfirm Marco because we set out our objectives at the beginning of the season and we met those objectives – being in the playoffs, winning the Canadian Championship – but when you are making decisions of what is best for the club going forward and whats best for the players, we felt that we needed to go in a different direction." With just over three weeks until the Impact open up the 2014 season, and after a quiet offseason in terms of player signings, De Santis says the club is still looking to add "one or two pieces" to the team. It seems the club is close to announcing the signing of young Uruguayan striker Santiago Gonzalez, who De Santis first met in Argentina on a scouting trip in November. "I managed to see him in my last trip to Argentina and watched him live," De Santis told TSNFC. "Hes a young player but a player with certain qualities that I think can help our team get better up front. nfl jerseys china. Were still dealing with a few issues but were hoping that is something that can get done, hopefully even before we get to Orlando on the weekend." While Montreals squad hasnt seen as many additions as most teams across MLS, De Santis believes some of the players they have retained from last year will be in a better position to produce top quality performances on a consistent basis. "Hernan Bernadello played half a season last year and I think now you can say that hes basically a new addition because the first six months was an adaptation period. With him now being with the team from day one, he will bring a lot more to the table. We have Nelson Rivas healthy and hopefully we can manage him well and he can give us a good amount of games because when he is on the field feeling well physically and with his head in the right place, he can be a dominant defender in this league." On Monday, the Impact announced the return of Argentine midfielder Andres Romero, who joins the team on loan from Brazilian club Tombense for the second successive season. Romero showed glimpses of his ability in 2013, scoring two goals in 30 regular season appearances, but De Santis expects there is much more to come this season from the former Argentina U20 international. "Were happy that Romero is back because he is another player that showed very good signs in certain moments," said De Santis. "When his wife gave birth to twins, she went back to Argentina and thats when we saw his consistency level had gone down. We just want to make sure now that hes in the best environment for him to be as consistent as possible." With other teams getting much stronger during the offseason, the Eastern Conference will be a fierce battleground in 2014. Repeating the accomplishment of making the playoffs will be a difficult task for Montreal, but with the core of a squad that led the East on a number of occasions throughout the first half of the 2013 season, the Impact feel they are well positioned to hit the ground running when their season opens in Dallas on March 8. cheap nfl jerseys ' ' '
