Panthers coach Pete DeBoer tried several times to get his team back into the game in the 5-2 loss to Buffalo on Wednesday night, but the Panthers were unresponsive.

Down 2-0 with 18:04 left in the first period, DeBoer pulled starting goalie Scott Clemmensen for Tomas Vokoun, but the Panthers fell behind 3-0 halfway through the first period.

``We obviously weren't prepared to play,'' DeBoer said. ``It wasn't the start we wanted. At that point you try and shock your team into playing. You have a couple of options: You can call a timeout and scream and yell. . . . That's not something you can do every night. So I made the decision to change a goalie and hopefully shock something into them, but that didn't work either.''

DeBoer also pulled defenseman Keith Ballard and changed lines by flip-flopping Nathan Horton to the second line with Michael Frolik, but neither of those moves panned out.

``You can draw up all the Xs and Os and all the systems you want,'' DeBoer said. ``But if you are not going to outbattle the guy across from you for the puck or get your nose dirty to score a goal, that is a huge part of the game. Every team in this league is prepared from an Xs and Os point of view. From there it's execution and compete level. We weren't good in either department [Wednesday] night.''

DeBoer added that Horton was not moved down, because of his play. Instead the Panthers coach was looking to spark the other lines.

However, with Ballard, DeBoer said: ``He just wasn't very good.''

Ballard understood the move and said there was no excuse for the team's slow start against the Sabres.

``You don't get the job done, you don't play,'' Ballard said. ``I'm fine with that, with [DeBoer's] decision, obviously not with the way I played or the way we played. Our start was embarrassing. We came out flat with mistake after mistake. We hung our goalies out to dry. It's unfair to them. . . . We need to wake up a little bit.''

GOALIE CHOICE

With back-to-back games at Pittsburgh and Philadelphia beginning Friday, DeBoer said he would make a decision on the starting goalie against the Penguins on Friday.

Vokoun is 6-7-1 in his career against Pittsburgh.

Clemmensen is 4-4-1 against the Penguins.

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