We all knew the Florida Panthers could score goals at ease going into Saturday’s game at the Nashville Predators. Saturday night, however, it was the defense and Spencer Knight that stepped up, stopping 24 of 25 shots, as the Panthers defeated the Predators in the ‘Battle of the Cats’, 4-1. With their win, the Panthers improved to 51-15-6, and move eight points ahead of Toronto and Carolina.
First Period:
It was a lot of defense in Saturday’s game, and it showed up often, as there was a combined 12 shots on goal (six by each team) in the period.
However, the start of the period looked like it was going to be an offensive battle. On a delayed penalty on Nashville that was going to be a Panther power play, the Panthers would take first dibs when Gustav Forsling and Brandon Montour would set up Carter Verhaeghe in the slot, where he buried home a one-timer past Jusse Saros. A little over two minutes later, the Predators would tie it at one when Flipp Forsberg would set up Ryan Johansen in front to bury a wrister past Spencer Knight.
The first period would also include 26 penalty minutes, with the most notable one being a fight between Radko Gudas and Luke Kunin. Gudas and Kunin each got five minute majors for fighting, but Kunin would add another 10 minutes when he got called for a misconduct.
Second Period:
It would remain a stalemate remaining for most of the game, despite there being a massive jump in shots being taken (25 total).
The other star rookie for the Panthers stepped up in a big way on Saturday, as Anton Lundell would break the tie with just under five minutes remaining when he would skate in from the left wall, and shoot a very tough-angled shot past Saros.
Third Period:
The Predators would have a close call to tie the game when Spencer Knight came out of the crease to handle a puck, but was stolen by the Preds leading scorer Roman Josi, who would shoot wide towards an empty net, and then Knight would stop him again in the crease to keep the Panthers lead at one.
Spencer Knight and the defense continued to step up in a big way after Jusse Saros was pulled with 2:08 remaining, as he stopped an avalanche of shot attempts by the Predators. Jonathan Huberdeau would officially ice the game and extend his point streak with 1:07 remaining when he shot it into the empty net. Gustav Forsling would add some more salt to the wound for the Predators when he would add an empty netter himself to make it 4-1. The Panthers win and Roman Josi failed to intercept the rat thrown on the ice.
Takeaways:
- Florida won for the sixth time in seven road games, giving the Panthers 21 wins away from home. They improved to 21-9-6, one off the franchise record of 22 set in 2015-16. This victory tied the franchise record of 48 points set in that season.
- The Panthers also set a franchise record for goals scored on the road with 128, topping the mark of 126 set in 2018-19.
- With their win, Florida also improved to 8-2-0 in their last 10 games in Nashville.
Up Next:
The Panthers will travel back to Sunrise to play Anaheim on Tuesday night and Winnipeg on Good Friday. Start times for both games are 7 PM.