Florida Panthers 1, Washington Capitals 0 FINAL

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Roberto Luongo was determined to stop the Washington Capitals, and set another franchise record for the Florida Panthers in the process.

Luongo stopped 29 saves for his fourth shutout in seven games, and the team-record seventh of the season, to lead the Panthers to a 1-0 victory Tuesday night.

``Every game is important, but our last two against those guys we gave up a lead,'' said Luongo, who eclipsed the franchise record of six he set last season. ``We talked about it in the second period and we played solid in the third.''

Olli Jokinen had the only goal in the teams' third matchup in 11 days, getting a power-play score with a one-timer over the shoulder of Capitals goalie Olaf Kolzig.

``It wasn't pretty, but we got the point,'' Jokinen said. ``It's always nice to score.''

Andreas Lilja and Valeri Bure assisted on the 19th goal of the season for Jokinen, who has 12 points in 13 games.

Sergei Gonchar, the NHL's top-scoring defenseman and Capitals' leading scorer, missed his third consecutive game _ this time as a healthy scratch after missing two games with the flu.

``It's no secret that we're working on a trade for him,'' Capitals general manager George McPhee said after the game. ``He has indicated that he's ready to leave, so why risk having him injured in a game? He was a healthy scratch. He's fine.

``We've been working on some things, so why play him and risk injury?''

McPhee said ``we're still active and talking'' about a trade and that Gonchar may have already played his last game with the Capitals.

Kolzig, who stopped 28 shots, made a solid save on Kristian Huselius, who burst from the penalty box on a breakaway early in the second period, but he couldn't help but miss Gonchar.

``I was in a little bit of a fog at the beginning, but after the first period we settled down and the focus was back on hockey,'' Kolzig said. ``But we missed him a lot tonight.

``Luongo played great down the stretch. He played great in the first to keep us off the board, but then in the last five minutes he came up big for them. We were missing our horse on the point for the power play. That probably was the difference tonight ... not having Gonchar out there on the power plays. But that's hockey, and you gotta try to win with the people you have on the ice.''