SUNRISE, Fla. – That’s how it’s done.
The Florida Panthers, led by Spencer Knight’s 34 saves, capped off their homestand with a 3-0 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday at Amerant Bank Arena.
“It’s unreal,” forward Jesper Boqvist said of Knight, who is 4-1-0 in his past five games. “He’s been playing here the last few games and he’s been really good. I’m very happy for him. He’s worked hard to play like that. It’s a lot of fun to watch.”
It was the fifth shutout of Knight’s career, helping the Panthers improve to 27-17-3.
“With Spencer’s play, you feel like you can and might score one (goal),” head coach Paul Maurice said.
Although no goals were scored, the first period was a bit controversial.
Sam Reinhart, who leads the Panthers with 27 goals, received a major penalty and game misconduct after a knee-to-knee collision with Ducks forward Isaac Landerstrom.
Killer got it done for Florida on a penalty kill in the final 4:34 of the period.
In the last match, they conceded three goals on the power play, but have regained their form.
“That was huge,” forward Anton Lundell said. “It went really well because it was a long kill. I think we got some energy from that. It was a big, big kill for sure.”
Knight, who took down the Ducks in the second period, denied former Panther Frank Vatrano’s shorthanded breakaway and made three more saves on the ensuing rebound.
“Frank is a really good player,” Knight said. “I played with him a little bit here. He has a great shot, one of the hardest shots in the league. You’re not really thinking about (that save), you’re just reading it. is.”
The Panthers played well inside the opponent’s net as Boqvist, a breakout freshman in his first year at Florida, took a nifty wrist shot to slide the puck from the left circle past John Gibson, his 25th shot of the game. I finally solved John Gibson. 1-0 at 11:22.
