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Panthers hit the road: Spencer Knight, defensive challenges, and more

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SUNRISE - The Florida Panthers head west for their final extended road trip outside the Eastern time zone.

As they arrive in California, they'll look to sweep the Anaheim Ducks after the Panthers scored a 3-0 win Saturday night at Amerant Bank Arena. Then it's on to Los Angeles, San Jose and Las Vegas completing the four-game road trip.

Knight time

Don't look now but the Panthers have one of the hottest goalies in the NHL. Spencer Knight, 23, has started 2025 with a bang. He's made 93 saves on 96 shots on goal in his four appearances, including a 34 save shutout against the Ducks on Saturday. Knight looks calm and comfortable in the net and with the Panthers having back-to-back games twice on this road trip, he and Sergei Bobrovsky are expected to split up the four games.

Defense opportunities

First, it was stalwart Niko Mikkola out with injury and now it's top pair defenseman Aaron Ekblad. The Panthers are feeling the effect, but they're also learning more about other players, which is important as they plan. 

Uvis Balinskis, Toby Bjornfot and Adam Boqvist are all looking to show the coaching staff that they can be part of the rotation for the rest of the season and into the playoffs. Meanwhile, veteran Dmitry Kulikov has had to play more minutes and has done so admirably. Nate Schmidt has been playing his best hockey of the season with increased responsibility. No team wants to have to play without core players, but the injuries do give an opportunity for others to play their way in, or out of the lineup and for coaches to make better evaluations.

8 to 4 Nations

The NHL shuts down for nearly two weeks in February for the Nations Face-Off tournament. The games will be played in Montreal and Boston, and the Panthers have a league-high eight players competing. Matthew Tkachuk will play for Team USA, the Sams (Reinhart and Bennett) for Canada, Gustav Forsling for Sweden and a foursome for Finland led by Captain Alexander Barkov. The team also has numerous staffers participating led by a General Manager Bill Zito who has served as part of Team USA's management.

Hockey players take great pride in wearing their country's jerseys and while there is a school of thought that rest would serve players well, the chance to represent their home nations supersedes all else.

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