"It read like a barrage on the scoreboard: four goals allowed by the Panthers in the second period of Saturday night's rout at Tampa Bay.

Scott Clemmensen termed it a blip for a Panthers defense that has been sturdy most of the season, even in the absence of injured defensemen Ed Jovanovski and Dmitry Kulikov. The veteran goalie sees no cause to sound the alarm as the Panthers continue a string of vital games against division foes Tuesday in Washington.

"The overall body of work that we've done as a team and that our D corps has done over the past month here with Jovanovski and Kulikov being out has been terrific. You look at that 10-minute blip there the other night. Obviously, that was the storyline of that game, but we don't expect that to happen on a regular basis," Clemmensen said. "We don't think it's acceptable to give up more scoring chances simply because our D corps looks a little different than it did a month ago.""