Lightning shot down again for fifth straight loss

MIAMI (Reuters) - The Florida Panthers condemned the Tampa Bay Lightning to their fifth defeat in a row with a 4-3 shootout win on Tuesday.

Nathan Horton struck the only goal of the shootout after Bryan McCabe had scored twice in regulation to lead the Panthers to their third win in the last four following a six-game losing streak.

"We were lucky," McCabe told reporters. "The score didn't quite indicate how we played."

Florida led 3-0 in the second period but almost blew their lead before finally prevailing in the shootout. Tampa Bay carried the play for most of the night and dominated the second period, firing 21 shots at Tomas Vokoun in the Florida goal.

Vokoun was outstanding for the Panthers, making 49 saves and stopping all three shots he faced in the shootout.

"Obviously, we got to be tighter, but we won the game," Vokoun said. "We've been a fragile team. We've had some tough times and the win is as important as anything in this game.

"We'll take the two points, especially after the way we played during the losing streak."

David Booth scored the other goal for the Panthers as the Lightning lost for the second straight game under interim coach Rick Tocchet, despite a franchise record 52 shots on goal.

"We created a lot of chances and came back from three goals down, so there were a few good signs," Tocchet said. "We have to build on these performances and at least we picked up a point in the last two games."

Steve Stamkos, the first overall pick in last June's NHL draft, had an assist to snap an eight-game pointless streak for Tampa Bay.

"It's just one of those nights where when you're not winning, those games seem to slip by," Stamkos said. "We need to find a way to change that. I thought it was our best game in a while."

Steve Eminger, Radim Vrbata and Evgeny Artyukhin scored the goals for the Lighting and Mike Smith made 33 saves as Florida out-shot Tampa Bay 52-36.

(Writing by Roger Lajoie in Toronto, editing by Alastair Himmer)