Spencer Knight made 34 saves and posted his second shutout of the season as the Florida Panthers beat the game Anaheim Ducks by a 3-0 count at Amerant Bank Arena.
Knight had strong first period, with 11 saves, and helped the Panthers kill off most of a five-minute major to Sam Reinhart, who was tossed from the game at 15:26 at for kneeing Isac Lundestrom.
After the Cats killed off the final 26 seconds of the major, they went on a power play early in the second and Knight came up huge, styming ex-Panther Frank Vatrano on a shorthanded breakaway before turning aside not one, not two, but three rebound chances.
Jesper Boqvist provided Knight with the only goal support he’d need on this night by just beating John Gibson, who got a lot, but not all of the shot, at 11:22 from the left circle after taking a pass from Tomas Nosek. Dmitry Kulikov drew the secondary assist on Boqvist’s 11th goal, which established a new career-high for the 26-year-old Swede.
Anton Lundell provided the insurance marker 4:43 into the third by stealing the puck away from Alex Killorn at center ice and then carrying into the Anaheim zone before firing off a wrister that caught defenseman Brian Dumoulin’s stick and then Gibson’s skate before trickling over the goal line. Hell of an individual effort from Lundell, who also collected his 11th of the campaign.
Gustav Forsling iced it with long-range empty-netter, with the lone assist going to Knight, with seven seconds left on the clock, giving the Panthers a much-needed boost before they jet out to the left coast for four games against squads from the Pacific Division.
On yet another night when the Cats got nothing on the score sheet from its big guns, a locked-in and stingy Knight won his third straight start to keep the club three points back of the Toronto Maple Leafs and four points ahead of the third place Tampa Bay Lightning. Florida leads the league with 20 wins after scoring first, so Boqvist’s milestone goal was obviously a big one. The two 1993 expansion cousins get a couple days off before meeting again on Tuesday night at Honda Center.
Tar & Feathers
- With a shutout and assist, Spencer Knight earned First Star honors from the media. Knight has yielded just three goals over his last three starts and the 22:02 of relief work he put in against Detroit.
- While Knight was posting his fifth career shutout, Third Star John Gibson put in a fine performance on the other end. The 36-year-old veteran finished the tilt with 42 saves.
- A notable exception to Panthers recent offensive woes is Jesper Boqvist. Boqvist, who was named Second Star, has produced six goals and nine points over his last 13 games.
- Former Cat Frank Vatrano registered a game-high nine shots in 22:12 of ice time, but could not light the lamp for the Ducks, who have lost six of seven games.
- Aleksander Barkov has yet to score in 2025, but he did win 16-of-20 faceoffs. The captain was also credited with three shots on goal.
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