5 TAKEAWAYS: 'Unbelievable' Knight Leads Cats to 9th Straight Home Win

SUNRISE, Fla. -Spencer Knight couldn't help but crack a smile during the anthem.
Just as the singer started to hit the end of the "proof through the night" portion of the song, fans joined in with a loud "Knight!" to cap off the verse and give a playful nod their rookie goaltender.

"It's pretty cool," the humble 20-year-old said of the moment. "The fans are awesome."
Keeping those fans cheering from the anthem until well beyond the final horn, Knight posted possibly his best performances to date on Thursday at FLA Live Arena as he turned aside a career-high 45 shots while backstopping the Panthers to a dominant 4-1 win over the Devils.
"I thought Spencer was unbelievable," Panthers interim head coach Andrew Brunette said.
But before the goals started to flow, Knight helped his teammates weather a storm early on.
One of 22 shots on goal they fired during the first period, the Devils drew first blood against the Panthers when Dougie Hamilton snapped a shot from the center of the right circle that caught a piece of Knight's shoulder before floating into the net to make it 1-0 just 13:37 after puck drop.
Flying down the ice in a race against time, Carter Verhaeghe then cleaned the slate and pulled the Panthers even heading into the first intermission when he sniped a shot from the top of the left circle that flew past MacKenzie Blackwood to make it 1-1 with 6.4 seconds left on the clock.
With 20 minutes in the books, Knight had already racked up 21 saves.
"Knighter bailed us out in the first," Panthers forward Anthony Duclair said. "That's not how we want to play, giving up 20-plus shots in the first period, or any period of that matter. That's not Panthers hockey. Knight was huge for us, and then obviously a big goal there by Carter."
Turning that strong finish in the first period into a stellar start in the second, Eetu Luostarinen finished off a great shift from the fourth line when he took a centering feed from Ryan Lomberg and slid the puck through Blackwood's five-hole from in front to put the Panthers up 2-1 at 3:08.
Just 1:17 later, Jonathan Huberdeau extended the advantage to 3-1 when he corralled a stretch pass from Duclair and wired a shot over Blackwood's glove from the right circle into the cage at 4:25. Soon after, Duclair then garnered a well-deserved goal of his own to make it 4-1 at 8:15.
Following that fourth goal, Blackwood was replaced in New Jersey's net by Jonathan Bernier.
"I thought we dictated right from that first puck drop in the second and took over the game," Brunette said of the team's outstanding middle frame. "They went out and they played hard."
From that point on, neither team would add any more scores as both goaltenders locked it down over the final 20 minutes. While Bernier stopped eight shots in the third period, Knight made 14 saves -- including a huge pad stop on Nico Hischier with 40 seconds left -- to lock in the 4-1 win.

Improving to 12-2-3, the Cats are just the seventh team in NHL history to start 9-0-0 at home. The Devils, meanwhile, fell to 7-5-3.
"We're building it," Brunette said of the team's noticeable home-ice advantage. "We want it to be our house. When teams come in, we want them to know it's going to be a hard game and that we're going to compete, we're going to be on pucks and we're going to play fast."
Here are five takeaways from Thursday's win in Sunrise…

1. SWAGGY SNIPES

The ping of the pipe never sounded so sweet.
With the Panthers trailing 1-0 late in the first period, Verhaeghe zoomed down the left side of the ice and ripped a powerful shot that sailed past Blackwood, off the far post and right into the twine to make it a 1-1 game with just 6.4 seconds left on the clock before the first intermission.

"Big goal by Carter there," Duclair said.
Lightning the lamp in consecutive games, Verhaeghe ranks fourth on the Panthers in scoring with 14 points (five goals, nine assists). With his motor running non-stop against New Jersey, Florida led 13-6 in scoring chances when he was deployed, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.

2. FOURTH FEELS FINE

The fourth line continues to find goals.
Only one game removed from netting a pair of goals in Tuesday's 6-1 win over the Islanders, the hard-nosed trio added another tonight when Lomberg set up Luostarinen for a goal from right near the top of the crease to put the Panthers ahead 2-1 early on in the second period.
Kickstarting the sequence was Patric Hornqvist winning a puck battle along the end boards.

"I think they're doing the right things," Brunette said of the line. "They've got a nice combination. They bring some energy, they're strong on pucks and they've got some speed. Lomby gets on pucks, Luosty is smart at both ends of the ice, and Horny is somebody that just gets it going."
Over the last three games, the red-hot fourth line has combined for four goals and four assists, including a three-game point streak for Lomberg in which he's tallied one goal and two assists. Luostarinen, meanwhile, has scored six goals over his last 11 contests.

3. JONNY ON THE SPOT

Even without Aleksander Barkov, the Panthers aren't lacking star power.
Touching twine for his third straight game, Huberdeau showed off his superstar skills when he collected a stretch pass from Duclair in transition -- managing to just stay onside in the process -- and drove into the right circle before beating Blackwood to make it 3-1 in the second period.

"With Huby's skill and his IQ level, just find the open space and he'll give it a rip," Duclair said.
By notching a goal and an assist in tonight's win, Huberdeau is now tied with Barkov, who is week to week with a lower-body injury suffered in Tuesday's win over the Islanders, for the top spot on the Panthers' scoring leaderboard with 17 points, including a team-leading 11 assists.

4. DUKE'S DEKE

After setting up Huberdeau for a goal, Duclair was rewarded with a score of his own.
Cruising down the slot, the speedy winger took a feed from Huberdeau, made a quick little deke to pull Blackwood out of position, and buried a shot from on top of the blue paint to increase the lead to 4-1 and put a bow on a huge three-goal outburst for the Panthers in the second period.

"I learned that from Barky," Duclair smiled when asked about his nifty move on the goal.
Back on a line together with Barkov out of the lineup, the trio of Duclair, Huberdeau and Sam Bennett combined for two goals and two assists against the Devils. As for Duclair, he's now up to nine goals on the season, with a team-leading eight of them coming while at even-strength.
"We were pumped when we got back together," Duclair said. "We were excited. We found a little chemistry when Benny got traded here, and saw a bit of that tonight. We want to build off that."

5. KNIGHT FEVER

How impressive was Knight against the Devils?
"He wasn't just good, he was great," Brunette said.
Starting off with 21 stops in the first period, the former first-round pick went on to add 24 more over the next two frames to finish with a career-high 45 saves during tonight's winning effort. Of his total saves, 12 came against high-danger shots, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

"I think any goalie will tell you it's fun to face more shots," Knight said of dealing with pressure early on. "I approach every game pretty similar. It's hard, but you try not to think about what's coming at you. You just focus on you, and whatever happens, happens. Sometimes you get one shot in a period and sometimes you get 20. You've just got to find ways to stay even-keeled."
Owning a strong 5-2-1 record with a .904 save percentage this season, Knight's on-ice skills are accompanied by an incredibly mature mentality. Prior to shutting down the Devils tonight, he'd faced plenty of adversity during his last outing -- a 7-3 loss to the same Devils back on Nov. 9.
Even though he took the loss in that game, he believes he gained invaluable experience.
"If things go well all the time, you're not going to learn much," Knight said. "That's how I learn. I kind of put in my bank and said, "I've been there, done that." It was hard, but I got through it and I went to practice the next day. The more you do that, the more you learn to put it behind you."