ST. LOUIS -- Tomas Vokoun was elated at finally winning his first game since a 4-3 victory over Chicago on opening night in Sweden. But he will always remain true as a friend in shutting out the St. Louis Blues 4-0 for his 32nd career shutout and beating his old Nashville netminding partner Chris Mason.

``I can't think of a better friend to have than Chris Mason,'' Vokoun said after stopping 34 shots to end his 0-7-1 slump. ``We were best of friends in Nashville and still are. We talk often . . . and I know our wives talk ever more often, trying to keep one another up to date with what is having with our families.

``He taught me a lot about battling and fighting to be better in goal. And he pushed me to play better by the way he played when I wasn't in the goal crease.''

For the record, Vokoun has had pretty good luck against St. Louis, whether it was in Nashville or now with the Panthers.

Vokoun was making his 25th career start against the Blues combined with Nashville and Florida. In the process, he raised his record against St. Louis to 13-10-3 (his goals-against average against the Blues coming in was 2.01 with a microscopic .926 save percentage.

No goaltending controversy in Florida, however, after Scott Clemmensen won 6-5 in Dallas on Friday. Coach Pete DeBoer wants both of his goalies going for the Panthers -- and he was thrilled by the bounce-back of Vokoun Saturday night.

VOKOUN SHINES

``I thought Tomas was outstanding tonight. His rebound control was great. He made big saves when he needed to and shut the door,'' DeBoer said. ``Because of his rebound control, there was not a lot of stuff laying around . . . and that makes a big difference.''

You can also credit the defense with helping out, according to Vokoun, with the 20 blocked shots they recorded in the game, highlighted by four from Dennis Seidenberg.

For the second consecutive night, the Panthers relied on the line of Steven Reinprecht, Nathan Horton and Cory Stillman for an offensive presence. Stillman started the scoring on a nifty pass from behind the net to the slot by Horton. Reinprecht then helped set up Stephen Weiss for the second goal and a 2-0 lead after one period. That score stood until the third period, when Seidenberg scored on a screened drive and Horton added an empty-net goal with 2:58 left and St. Louis trying to create a rush of offense.

``That line seems to have great chemistry,'' DeBoer said of his No. 1 unit. ``They're looking for each other and creating great offense.''

It was also the third straight game that a Florida defenseman scored a

goal.

``It's critical,'' said DeBoer. ``We know we're a little challenged offensively and we need our defensemen to chip in offensively.

``We got a lot of that last year. This season, we've got a lot of new defensemen back there and I think they're just starting to get the hang of what the expectations are.''

ROAD TO SUCCESS

What was most important to the coach was the success the Panthers had in back-to-back games on the road Friday and Saturday.

``We talked as a group about our back-to-back -- we've got 18 of them this season -- and how we've got to pick up points,'' added DeBoer.

``Up to this point, we haven't done a very good job in them. It hasn't been a lack of effort. We've haven't made good decisions with the puck. Tonight we had confidence -- and there's no doubt that confidence is a big part of the game.

``That was a big confidence boost for us last night [6-5 shootout win at Dallas on Friday]. We were pretty fragile going into the weekend and I think this is exactly what we needed.''

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