Knight makes 40 saves, Panthers shut out Hurricanes

Spencer Knight made 40 saves for the Florida Panthers in a 3-0 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Florida, on Wednesday.

"I kind of approached it like every other game," Knight said. "The guys played really well, stuck to the team game and obviously got a good result."
Knight was at his best in the third period, when he faced 18 shots and two Carolina power plays.
"[He was] stronger as the game went on and required to be stronger as the game went on, especially with the penalty kills in the third period," Florida coach Paul Maurice said. "I think he was mentally tested. That's just a good sign for any goaltender, for a young man to be able to build his game like that."

Nick Cousins scored his first goal, Brandon Montour had three assists, and Eric Staal played his 1,300th NHL game for the Panthers (8-5-1), who have won three of four. The shutout was the first of the season and third in the NHL for Knight, who is 5-1-0.
Antti Raanta made 33 saves for the Hurricanes (8-4-1), who play the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday.
"We're giving up too much," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "Especially when you're not scoring, you start doing some things that you shouldn't be doing, and that opens it up the other way. [Raanta] was really good, saved a bunch of odd-man rushes that we were giving up. That's an area of concern. If we don't have 20 guys doing it the right way, it looks like that."
Cousins gave Florida a 1-0 lead at 9:21 of the first period when he tipped Montour's shot from the right point before scoring on the rebound. It was his 11th game since signing a two-year contract July 13.
Aleksander Barkov's power-play goal extended the lead to 2-0 at 10:20 of the third period. He finished a give-and-go with Carter Verhaeghe with a backside tap-in at the left post.
"We have the right mindset, trying to get pucks to the net," Barkov said. "We recognize that they have a really good penalty kill. There's not going to be too many clean plays, so you just have to find your chances and put more pucks to the net and create chances from that."

Sam Bennett scored an empty-net goal with six seconds remaining for the 3-0 final.
Maurice won his 783rd game to pass Al Arbour (St. Louis Blues, New York Islanders) for sixth in NHL history.
"Those Islanders Stanley Cups just prior to [the] Edmonton [Oilers] coming to their championship form, that's the hockey that I grew up on," Maurice said. "So those are legends and mentors for me."

The Panthers played without leading scorer Matthew Tkachuk (17 points), who served the second of a two-game suspension for high-sticking Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick in a 5-4 loss Saturday.
NOTES:Staal, who played 909 games with the Hurricanes (2003-16), is the 64th NHL player to play 1,300 games. ... His brothers, Panthers defenseman Marc Staal and Hurricanes forward Jordan Staal, each played Wednesday; it was Jordan's 674th NHL game to pass Jeff O'Neill for sixth in Hartford Whalers/Hurricanes history. … Carolina forward Jack Drury had two hits in 9:04 in his season debut after being recalled from Chicago of the American Hockey League on Monday. … Barkov's 65th power-play goal tied Olli Jokinen for second in Panthers history behind Scott Mellanby (66).