Knight time? Panthers’ 20-year-old goalie is ‘an option’ for must-win Game 5 vs. Tampa
Practice — maybe the final one of the Florida Panthers’ season — began Sunday at the BB&T Center and Spencer Knight skated out to the crease typically occupied by the starting goaltender.
He’s only a little more than a month removed from his college hockey career, his 20th birthday and his NHL debut, and he hasn’t even dressed for any of the Panthers’ first four games in the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs, the clear third option behind Sergei Bobrovsky and Chris Driedger.
Florida will play its biggest game in five years Monday, though, and Knight may well be the goaltender the Panthers turn to.
“It gives you an option, something to consider,” Joel Quenneville said. “I think his track record earned him that consideration.”
The coach said he’ll wait until Monday to make his final announcement for a starter, but Knight may have the most compelling case to start Florida’s must-win Game 5 against the Tampa Bay Lightning at 8 p.m. in Sunrise.
With the Panthers trailing 3-1 in the series, goaltending has been a major difference with star goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy significantly outplaying Bobrovsky and Driedger. Knight has the talent, the poise and even a big-game track record to potentially help Florida stage only the 30th 3-1 series comeback in NHL history.
“I don’t want to talk too much about an option. He’s one of two other options and we like them, as well, so I don’t think it’s time to get too much involved with him,” Quenneville said, “but I know that he’s been on big stages before.”
Knight emerged as an option Saturday after the Panthers benched Bobrovsky with 12:45 left in the second period of a 6-2 loss to the Lightning in Tampa. Two days earlier, Florida benched Driedger at the end of the second period of an overtime win at Amalie Arena. Bobrovsky now has the second worst save percentage in the Stanley Cup playoffs and Driedger has the third worst.
While Bobrovsky is the highest paid player on the team and Driedger was tied for the fourth best save percentage in the NHL this season, Knight has never lost an NHL game, won a high-profile international championship earlier this year and is one of the top prospects in hockey.
Knight, who was just playing for the Boston College Eagles in March and made his NHL debut in April, played in four games in the regular season, going 4-0 with a 2.32 goals against average and .919 save percentage. In his first two outings, Knight allowed just one goal on 43 shots, but he posted only a .875 save percentage in his final two starts, which left him behind Bobrovsky and Driedger on the depth chart for the Cup playoffs.
The rookie has an unquestioned big-game pedigree, though. In January, he was the starting goaltender for the United States and shut out Canada in the gold-medal game of the 2021 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. He finished the tournament with a 1.63 goals against average and .940 save percentage.
Knight was the No. 13 overall pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft is the No. 27 prospect in hockey, according to ESPN.com. If he starts, he’ll be the youngest goalie to start a playoff game since 1995.
“He’s got a little bit of Carey Price vibes to him,” said MacKenzie Weegar, comparing Knight to one of the last 20-year-old goaltenders to start a playoff game. “I remember talking to [fellow defensemen Keith Yandle and Aaaron Ekblad] when he first got in here. When he first got his first game, we all looked at each other — it was almost like he was going to be almost a Hall of Famer, so he’s got a bright future ahead of him. He’s going to be kicking and I can’t wait to play in front of him, honestly.”
Although most of the goals Tampa Bay scored in its blowout win Saturday were the result of defensive breakdowns, goaltending has been a major issue for the Panthers. Bobrovsky and Driedger have combined for an abysmal .652 save percentage against high-danger chances, while Vasilevskiy has an .897 save percentage against such chances. In all four games, Florida has had the edge in expected goals, scoring chances, high-danger chances and Fenwick, which totals all unblocked shots.
Through four games, the Panthers have a 57.2 Corsi percentage, 57.2 Fenwick percentage, 55.9 shots percentage 60.9 expected goals for percentage, 65.0 scoring chances percentage and 65.2 high-danger chances percentage. It all paints the picture of a team dominating possession time and generating more chances, yet Florida is one loss away from elimination and trying to fight off frustration.
In the third period Saturday, winger Anthony Duclair injured Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov on a slashing penalty away from the play and right wing Patric Hornqvist injured Tampa Bay defenseman Mikhail Sergachev with a slightly late hit, eventually getting up a misconduct penalty after the Lightning retaliated and a fight broke out.
Jon Cooper took exception to the “liberties” he felt the Panthers were taking with the game out of hand.
“There’s nothing wrong with the message setting and tone setting. That’s part of the game. That’s why we love it,” the Tampa Bay coach said Saturday. “If it’s not controlled, stuff like this happens tonight and you have superstars lying on the ice hurt. It just can be frustrating. ... Believe me: We’ll be bringing it two nights from now.”
A day later, Quenneville finally got a chance to respond to his counterpart’s comments and he disagreed with any insinuations his team was playing dirty.
“I saw some of Coop’s comments, and I couldn’t be more disagreeing of what he saw and what I saw,” Quenneville said. “I think that the only problem is I thought the disagreement with me is that there were some suspendable offenses that weren’t called and other than that it’s been a very competitive four games, and I’ll leave it at that.”
This story was originally published May 23, 2021 at 12:24 PM.
