SUNRISE, Fla. — It had been nine days since Spencer Knight last defended the net in a live game. Nine days to reflect on an outing in which he gave up a career-worst six goals against the very team he was set to face again in his first game back as the starting goaltender for the Florida Panthers.
“He was put in a tough situation,” interim coach Andrew Brunette said pregame. “Young kid. I think he learned a lot and he’ll be ready to go.”
And that he was.
Knight made a career-high 45 saves — including 21 of 22 shots that came his way in a flurry of a first period — and the Panthers’ offense came to life after a sluggish first 20 minutes in a 4-1 win over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday at FLA Live Arena. The Panthers (12-2-3) have won back-to-back games to start this homestand and are a perfect 9-0-0 at FLA Live Arena so far this season.
And they can look to their 20-year-old goaltender for keeping the game within reach in the first period.
The Devils (7-5-3) had a 22-13 edge in shots on goal and a 15-9 advantage in scoring chances in the opening period. They commanded the puck and limited Florida’s usually high-octane offense from generating its usual pressure.
Knight, meanwhile, stopped the first 17 shots he faced — highlighted by sprawling out to deflect a Tomas Tatar shot that hit the crossbar six minutes in and leaping for a glove save on a P.K. Subban slap shot a couple minutes later — before the Devils got on the scoreboard for the first and only time.
Dougie Hamilton’s wrist shot from the right circle bounced off Knight’s glove and the crossbar and ended in the net to open scoring with 6:23 left in the first period.
He didn’t let another shot get past him the rest of the night, looking more like the goaltender of the future the Panthers envision him being.
Florida’s offense responded by giving him more than enough support after its slow start.
The Panthers scored four goals in a nine-minute span between the end of the first period and start of the second to take a commanding lead.
It started in the waning seconds of the opening period. Carter Verhaeghe carried the puck the entire length of the ice down the left boards and sniped a wrist shot from the top of the circle past Mackenzie Blackwood to make it 1-1 with 6.4 seconds left in the first period.
Eetu Luostarinen and Jonathan Huberdeau then scored back-to-back goals in a span of 77 seconds early in the second period.
Luostarinen’s goal came when he got a pass from Patrick Hornqvist and flicked a backhanded shot that went into the net to put Florida up 2-1 3:08 into the period. It was Luostarinen’s sixth goal in 13 games this season — doubling his scoring output from last season when he played 44 games.
Huberdeau made it 3-1 when he skated in on a rush and fired a snap shot from the right circle 4:25 into the second period.
Anthony Duclair capped the scoring run when he took a centering pass from Huberdeau, deked in front of the net and buried a wrist shot for his team-high-tying ninth goal of the season.
High-scoring affairs
Thursday was Florida’s 11th game this season scoring at least four goals.
It came in their first game for what is expected to be an extended period of time without captain and top-line center Aleksander Barkov, who has been deemed week-to-week with an apparent left knee injury.
Florida’s top line, now centered by Sam Bennett in Barkov’s absence with Huberdeau and Duclair, scored two of the four goals. Dating back to last year after the Panthers traded for Bennett, Florida has outscored opponents 9-0 when those three forwards are on the ice together in five-on-five situations.
Jumbo’s back
The Panthers activated veteran center Joe Thornton from injured reserve on Thursday and he played his first game since Oct. 29. He served as the center for Florida’s third line, with Owen Tippett and Frank Vatrano on the wings.
Up next
The Panthers continue their four-game homestand on Saturday against the Minnesota Wild. Puck drop is set for 6 p.m.
