SUNRISE, Florida (Ticker) -- Rick Dudley got the usual treatment in his first game behind the bench for the Florida Panthers.
Roberto Luongo made 26 saves and Niklas Hagman and defenseman Andreas Lilja scored first-period goals as the Panthers blanked the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-0, in Dudley's first game as coach.
Two days after firing Mike Keenan and taking over on an interim basis, Dudley became the third straight Panthers' coach to debut with a shutout. Florida defeated Boston, 3-0, on December 29, 2000 in Duane Sutter's first game behind the bench, then blanked Columbus, 2-0, on December 5, 2001 in Keenan's debut.
"I'm euphoric, I don't want them to be," said Dudley, who spent 2 1/2 seasons as Lightning general manager. "It feels great to win the hockey game, but I also know that we'll improve on a steady basis."
Luongo was in the nets for all three coaching debuts. In this one, he stopped six shots in the first period, 11 in the second and nine in the third for his first shutout of the season and 17th of his career.
"When you have a new coach behind the bench, you want to impress him," Luongo said. "We came out strong. It's a matter of doing that game in and game out if we want to make a push to the playoffs."
Jarsolav Bednar and Valeri Bure added third-period goals for the Panthers, who lost three of their previous four games.
"It is positive when everybody works," Florida captain Olli Jokinen said. "It's more fun when you win. It was definitely a good sign and a good start for Dudley and this team. It's what we needed."
One of the things the Panthers could not do under Keenan was win at the Office Depot Center. But they snapped a six-game home winless streak against Tampa Bay, which has scored just one goal in two games since Saturday's 9-0 rout of Pittsburgh.
"We're a nice hockey team right now, meaning no jam, absolutely no jam," Lightning coach John Tortorella said. "Nice little, cute plays coming across the blue lines, people getting out of the way. It will be addressed. ... This isn't a dip. The bench is dead. Just the whole atmosphere of our team right now isn't where it should be."
Hagman, never one of Keenan's favorites, scored the only goal Luongo needed at 3:12 of the opening period. He threaded a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle through the legs of a Tampa Bay defender and over the right shoulder of goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin.
"Obviously, the first goal was big for us," Hagman said. "That kind of set the pace of the game. We wanted to win the first 20 minutes."
Lilja helped the Panthers do that, doubling the lead in the final minute when his slap shot from above the right circle hit a Lightning defender and deflected past Khabibulin.
After a scoreless second period, Bednar made it 3-0 at 4:23 of the third with his first goal in 25 games. Bure cashed in during a two-man advantage, capping the scoring with 11:02 to play.
"I thought our special teams were a little bit better, but they need improvement," Dudley said. "We thought our penalty-killing against a wonderful power play was pretty good. Obviously, your No. 1 penalty-killer is Roberto, and he was outstanding, especially in the third period."
Luongo's best stops came in a 30-second span of the second period when he denied Brad Richards on a 2-on-1 and gloved Martin St. Louis' point-blank shot with 11:58 remaining.
"Other than that last 9-0 game against Pittsburgh, the last handful of games, we haven't been able to put the puck in the net," Tampa Bay defenseman Dan Boyle said. "When you're not doing that, you are not going to win many games. We have to go find a way to put the puck back in the net again."
