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Final Score: Florida 1 - Boston 0

Boston, MA (Sports Network) - Scott Clemmensen made 36 saves for his first shutout of the season and Keith Ballard scored the game's only goal, as Florida took a 1-0 win from the Bruins at TD Garden to put a dent into Boston's hopes for a playoff spot.

It was Clemmensen's first whitewash since a 1-0 victory against these same Bruins February 13 of last year while serving as the backup to Martin Brodeur in New Jersey.

The Panthers snapped a four-game skid with the win but a stretch of seven losses in nine games entering Thursday may have ended their chances at playing beyond the regular season.

Boston remained tied with Philadelphia and Montreal for the final three postseason seeds in the Eastern Conference. The Flyers suffered a 6-4 loss to the Islanders Thursday and the Habs were idle.

Atlanta is lurking only two points back in the ninth position but fell to Washington Thursday, 2-1, with only five games remaining in the B's regular season.

"They came at us pretty good," Clemmensen said. "We killed penalties really well. I got kind of lucky on some saves here and there. I know they are a little bit of a snake bitten team right now and that played to my advantage. A couple of those saves I got pretty lucky."

Tuukka Rask came up with 19 saves in the loss for the Bruins, who had been able to help their cause by winning four of their previous six outings.

Courtesy of a Cory Stillman feed from behind the net, Ballard gave the Panthers the lead 7:15 in on a wrister from between the circles that snuck under the right pad of Rask.

"I saw the shot. I thought I had it and I started to squeeze it in and suddenly it was in the net," Rask said. "It went through my armpit. That's one of those goals you want to have back. But, it's just one goal and you can't be perfect."

Clemmensen was busy over the first 40 minutes with 10 saves in the first period and 17 in the second. He kept on his toes to withstand a late Boston power play with two key saves before it appeared the hosts may have netted an equalizer just outside a minute left in the middle stanza.

The water bottle popped off the top of the net on a Boston shot, but replays showed Clemmensen merely hit the bottle with the butt-end of his stick and Florida retained its slim edge moving to the final period.

Florida's Radek Dvorak was called for a tripping minor with 7:28 to play, but the B's couldn't muster a tying score.

Clemmensen then stopped March Recchi's bid from in close with the clock rolling toward zeros.