The Panthers journeyed back to Sunrise for the second half of the back-to-back against Carolina. This time, Spencer Knight got the start against Spencer Martin, who started Friday’s game as well. A tight first period made it look like it was going to be a goalie duel, but the Panthers opened the scoring in the second period to a 2-0 lead into the second intermission. A frustrated Hurricanes team gave the Cats six power plays, of which they converted three into goals while killing off the two Carolina man advantages. Once again defensively the Panthers completely shut down the Hurricane offense holding them to just one shot on goal in the entire third period. The Panthers had six different goal scores and 13 players got on the score sheet Saturday.
Good Knight:
During the stretch of losing games, Knight still put the Panthers in a position to win the games he started. He had another strong outing against the Hurricanes and a busy first period. He stopped all 11 shots he saw in the opening twenty minutes but his night got progressively less busy as the Panthers poured on the pressure. The dangerous Carolina power play got two chances to convert but Knight was the best penalty killer for when a few shots got through. The young goaltender is looking more confident with each game he plays and his athleticism allowed him to make a fantastic save on Necas, the leading NHL point scorer. He was seeing the puck well Saturday and got the shutout as a result. His last NHL shutout was in 2022 also against the Hurricanes.
Offensive Depth Scoring:
It looked like Lundell had opened the scoring, but Carolina’s offsides challenge was successful when the Verhaeghe line was offsides well before Lundell’s line got on the ice. So it was Aaron Ekblad who opened the scoring on a shot from the far side of the faceoff circle. Martin was down and out after making a save on another Florida shot and Ekblad sent the puck in over him for the 1-0 lead. Things went back and forth for the rest of the period until a late power play for the Panthers off a delay of game call. With about 45 seconds left to intermission, it looked like Florida would take the 1-0 lead into the third. Quick passing from Barkov and Tkachuk got the puck to Samoskevich who buried it beating the buzzer and made it 2-0. Bennett went to the box for interference after he got tripped which sent him into Martin. Lundell put the pressure on and freed the puck, Luostarinen picked up the loose puck and then made the pass to Bennett who came in hot out of the penalty box. Bennett then took the shot and scored for the 3-0 lead. Another power play resulted in another goal, this time Barkov redirected the Tkachuk pass for the goal with Reinhart on the secondary assist. Just 11 seconds later a give-and-go between Adam Boqvist and AJ Greer resulted in A. Boqvist’s first goal as a Panther and a 5-0 lead. Evan Rodrigues finished off the scoring with a third straight power-play goal when he redirected Schmidt’s shot from the blue line; Verhaeghe got the secondary assist. Special teams once again came up big for the Cats but the depth scoring from all over the lineup made a big difference.
Defense Locks Down The Lead:
The Panthers’ identity centers around strong defense and heavy forechecking. Sasha Barkov said in his post-game interview after being awarded the second star, that following the stretch of losses the team has found its identity again. He credited all the players in the locker room for working hard and doing all the things they needed to do right. Aaron Ekblad continues his stretch of impressive play, he played a season-high 27:17 Friday night and 23:19 Saturday. He and Forsling have been a strong duo on the ice and played a big part in holding the high-end talent of Carolina to a combined one point on an assist. The Panthers were able to swap out Uvis Balinskis for Adam Boqvist on the third pair and didn’t miss a beat. The defense held Carolina to the outside with no shots coming from the slot, seven shots from the faceoff circles, and only two shots in close to the net. The frustration from the Hurricanes manifested in an extended scrum after the end of the first-period buzzer resulting in three penalties; Ekblad (roughing), Orlov (Roughing), and Svechnikov (roughing). While Tkachuk took a roughing penalty, it was Necas who took a shot at Tkachuk first, hitting him in the calf with his stick; Tkachuk got called for his ensuing retaliation. There were more small shoving matches in the third period, but a big fight broke out after Bennett was tripped and ended up falling into the Hurricane goalie. The Panthers were in control of this game from puck drop and are back in action against the Penguins in Pittsburg on Tuesday.
