Knights look for elusive road victory vs. Panthers

In real estate, it's all about location, location, location.

In hockey, the Vegas Golden Knights can relate so far this season, winning all three of their home games and dropping both of their road tests.

On Saturday night, Vegas will visit the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers at Sunrise, Fla.

Most recently, the Golden Knights lost 4-3 at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night. Vegas squandered three leads and then allowed the winning goal with just 55 seconds left in regulation.

Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy urged calm following the loss to Tampa Bay.

"We've protected leads well (in general)," Cassidy said. "Hopefully, this was one-off."

Cassidy also admitted that blowing leads has "happened to us on the road more than it should."

The Golden Knights enter this weekend ranked 15th in the NHL in goals-against average (3.20).

Offensively, Vegas is even better, tied for fourth with 4.00 goals per game and knotted for fifth in power-play percentage (31.3).

Adin Hill, who is Vegas' starting goalie, is 2-2-0 with a 3.81 GAA and an .851 save percentage.

But he is being challenged for playing time by his backup, Ilya Samsonov, who is 1-0-0 with a 1.00 GAA and a .957 save percentage.

Ivan Barbashev leads Vegas with four goals, and Jack Eichel tops the squad in assists (eight) and points (10).

Meanwhile, the Panthers are coming off a 3-2 overtime loss to the visiting Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.

The Panthers have played four straight games without captain Aleksander Barkov (leg injury) and fellow forward Matthew Tkachuk (illness).

In addition, bottom-six forward Jonah Gadjovich left Thursday's game due to an upper-body injury. He played just three shifts and did not return.

This is testing Florida's depth at forward. The Panthers have Sam Reinhart, who was second in the NHL last year with 57 goals. This season, he leads Florida in goals (four) and points (nine).

Then there's 23-year-old Anton Lundell, Florida's first-round pick (12th overall) in 2020.

This is Lundell's fourth NHL season, and, so far, his career high is 44 points.

But, with Barkov and Tkachuk out, Lundell suddenly is second on the Panthers with six points in six games.

"It's always fun to score," said Lundell, a native of Finland. "I'm trying to do my best.

"I know we have some guys away, and I'm trying to step up and become a leader."

The Panthers are hoping to get Tkachuk back on Saturday. They also are trying to get goals from forward Carter Verhaeghe. He had 34 goals last season, and he has posted 76 tallies over the past two years.

This season, though, Verhaeghe has zero goals and just two assists in six games. He also has a minus-seven rating.

Forward Sam Bennett (three goals, two assists) is off to a good start, but the Panthers are also looking for more from standout defensemen Gustav Forsling (one goal, two assists) and Aaron Ekblad (no goals, one assist).

Last season, Forsling posted 39 points and had a plus-56 rating, which led the league.

Ekblad had 18 points in just 51 games, and he had a plus-27 rating.

In goal, the Panthers have starter Sergei Bobrovsky (2-1-1, 2.99 GAA, .898 save percentage) and backup Spencer Knight (1-1-0, 3.55, .891).

--Field Level Media