5 TAKEAWAYS: Panthers 5, Kraken 1

SEATTLE -- With Spencer Knight standing tall in net and the power play clicking, the Florida Panthers cooled off the Seattle Kraken with a 5-1 win at Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday.
Improving to 12-9-4, Florida moved back into a playoff spot with the win.
Most impressively, the Panthers won despite being down three players for most of the night.
"Short to start and a couple guys go down," Panthers defenseman Marc Staal said. "I thought Knighter made some big saves early when Seattle] was buzzing. It calmed us down and our special teams came up big. It was a good team win."
For a quick recap of the game, click
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To read up on five key takeaways for the Cats, continue below.

1. TWO FOR SWAGU

Welcome to "Swag-attle."
Helping the Panthers jump out to an early lead in the Emerald City, Carter Verhaeghe found the back of the net twice -- first at even strength and then on the power play -- within a span of just 26 seconds in the first period to quiet the crowd and make it a 2-0 game in the blink of an eye.

According to NHL Public Relations, Verhaeghe is just the fourth player in franchise history to score two goals in 26 seconds or less, joining Viktor Kozlov (0:07 on Feb. 10, 2004), Colton Sceviour (0:23 on March 30, 2016) and Jonathan Marchessault (0:26 on March 23, 2017).
"It's huge," Verhaeghe said of racing out to a lead on the road. "It gives us life on the bench. Any time you can get the first goal, it gives us a huge advantage, and we took advantage tonight."
A scoring machine this season, Verhaeghe leads the Panthers with 14 goals. Mastering the art of the double dip, he's produced five multi-goal games. In addition to his two goals against the Kraken, he also posted four shots on goal, one takeaway and owned a 58.06 CF% at 5-on-5.
"[Even] if you take the two goals out of his game, it was close to his best game," Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. "He was on that puck, hunted pucks, backchecked, worked and competed. He set a very, very high level for the rest of the group."

2. TKACHUK KEEPS CHARGING

The points keep pilling up for Matthew Tkachuk.
Finishing with a goal and an assist against the Kraken, the superstar forward recorded his 12th multi-point game of the season. Now up to 34 points (12 goals, 22 assists), he ranks tied for fifth in the NHL in scoring. Dating back to Nov. 17, he's also tied for first in the NHL with 17 points.

Leading the charge against the Kraken, the line of Tkachuk, Verhaeghe and Sam Bennett was dominant from start to finish. Over the 11:34 they shared the ice together at 5-on-5, Florida led 16-9 in shot attempts, 9-5 in scoring chances and 1-0 in goals, per NaturalStatTrick.com.
Just like Tkachuk and Verhaeghe, Bennett has also been on fire as of late. Logging five points (two goals, three assists) over his last two games, he's now up to 21 points on the season.
"They each have a little piece," Maurice said of the line. "They have great hands, great speed, lots of physicality. It's one of those lines you like so much you hope you can keep it together."

3. INJURY BUG BITES

Already without Anton Lundell (upper body) to start the game, the Panthers lost both Patric Hornqvist and Radko Gudas to upper-body injuries early in their matchup against the Kraken.
Prior to their injuries, Hornqvist skated 6:01, while Gudas skated just 2:08.
With neither player returning to action after exiting, Maurice said after the game that both would have to be evaluated by doctors, so no updates are expected likely until Monday's practice.
"They are both going to need to see a doc," Maurice said. "They may be fine, but they're both going to need to see doctors."
Picking up the slack, four different defenseman skated at least 22 minutes against the Kraken, including a team-high 27:17 for Aaron Ekblad. Up front, nine different skaters saw at least 13 minutes of ice time as the Panthers essentially rolled with just three line throughout the contest.
"It seems like we just keep finding a way to battle," Verhaeghe said. "It's tough losing all those guys. They're great players and help us a lot, but we found a way tonight. Hopefully they'll heal up for next game."

4. FORSLING WITH THE FLEX

Gustav Forsling was on another level in Seattle.
In addition to netting a goal on the power play to increase Florida's lead to 5-1 in the third period, the smooth-skating defenseman shined in the possession game. Leading the team with a 60.61 CF% at 5-on-5, the Panthers out-attempted the Kraken 20-13 when he was on the ice.
Per NaturalStatTrick.com, Forsling also tallied a team-high 68.34 xGF% at 5-on-5.

Earning at least one point in nine of his last 11 games, Forsling has racked up two goals and nine assists in that stretch while averaging more than 23 minutes of ice time per game. Sitting second among Panthers defensemen in scoring, he's tallied 18 points in 25 games this season.
Looking at the bigger picture, Forsling's goal capped off a 3-for-4 night on the power play for the Panthers. Since Nov. 6, Florida's 32.6% success rate on the power play ranks fifth in the NHL.

5. KNIGHT SHINES

Make it back-to-back stellar showings for Knight.
After turning aside 32 of 33 shots in Thursday's win at Vancouver, the 21-year-old made 35 saves -- including six high-danger stops -- to backstop the Panthers to another win in Seattle.
"He looks identical in both games," Maurice said. "He's just solid, square to the puck. Anything that got away from him, he had an answer for. One or two really, really good saves there, cross-seam saves that are hard to make. He gave us a nice bit of confidence and calm back there."
For Knight, the game also marked his 50th appearance in the NHL.
"It's not much," Knight chuckled when asked about the milestone. "I sit next to a guy (Sergei Bobrovsky) with over 600. It's cool. It's been a fun short time. Hopefully there's many more."
Owning an 8-3-3 record with a .923 save percentage this season, Knight, who was taken by the Panthers with the 13th overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, has started five of the last six games.
"I try to go out and just play and not think," Knight said. "It's a long game. Every game's hard and every team has players that can make plays. That's the fun part, but also the challenging part. It's really just coming in and playing hockey."