Panthers to turn to 20-year-old goalie Spencer Knight to start must-win Game 5 vs. Lightning
With their season on the line, the Florida Panthers will turn to a 20-year-old goaltender to try to extend their first-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Spencer Knight will start in goal for Game 5 after leading the team on to the ice for pregame warm-ups Monday at the BB&T Center in Sunrise. The rookie will be the third goaltender to start for the Panthers in five playoff games after both Sergei Bobrovsky and Chris Driedger were benched midway through the last two games in Tampa.
Through four postseason games, Bobrovsky has the second worst save percentage in the 2021 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 the talent, poise and track record for coach Joel Quenneville to trust him for a must-win game.
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 in the “batting order,” as Quenneville put it. Knight did not dress for any of Florida’s first four playoff games.
Driedger dressed as the back-up for Game 5. Bobrovsky — who has five years left on a seven-year, $70-million deal — is inactive for the first time in the postseason.
Knight has an unquestioned big-game pedigree. 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. He’s the youngest goalie to start a playoff game since 1992.
Florida, trailing 3-1 in its first-round series, needs to win three games in a row to win its first playoff series since 1996. Only 29 times in NHL history has a team overcome a 3-1 deficit to win a playoff series. First, the Panthers will have to win their first elimination game since 1996.
Keith Yandle returns to lineup
Defenseman Keith Yandle returned to Florida’s lineup Monday after the Panthers scratched him for the previous two games in Tampa.
Yandle replaces fellow defenseman Markus Nutivaara, who was a healthy scratch for Game 5, and paired up with fellow defenseman Brandon Montour for the first time this season.
Before his two scratches last week, Yandle hadn’t missed a game since 2009. He still has the longest active regular-season games streak at 922 games, leaving him 42 shy of tying the NHL record. Postseason games don’t count against his streak.
Florida also knocked winger Anthony Duclair back to the fourth line — where he played in Game 3 on Thursday — after he spent Game 4 on Sunday playing with the top line. Left wing Mason Marchmen returns to the top line, where he played in Game 3, next to star center Aleksander Barkov and forward Carter Verhaeghe.
This story was originally published May 24, 2021 at 11:17 AM.
