After a rocky start, Panthers’ Spencer Knight is finally rolling. It’s just in time.
It must be something about the Stanley Cup playoffs — or at least “playoff-type hockey,” as Andrew Brunette termed the Florida Panthers’ last few games — for Spencer Knight to really get rolling.
After a rocky start to the season, the rookie goaltender has started to look like the player he was in the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs and it’s happening right as the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs are drawing near.
“This is playoff-type hockey,” Brunette said after Knight made his third straight start Thursday in Las Vegas. “It’s great experience for him.”
Knight started in each of the first three games on the Panthers’ seven-game road trip as star goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky has dealt with an illness. As of Thursday, Brunette wasn’t sure yet whether Bobrovsky would be able to play the second end of a back-to-back set Friday against the Anaheim Ducks, but the extended stretch of playing time has turned into a good opportunity for Knight, who hadn’t gotten this type of run all season in the NHL.
Although Knight lost two of the three games, the loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday came in a shootout and the 5-3 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday was hard to pin too much on his play after his 13-save first period kept Florida afloat.
The goalie posted a .916 save percentage in the first three games on the road trip and has a .918 save percentage since the start of the calendar year. His season-long save percentage is up to .904 after it was at .896 on New Year’s Day.
Last year, he became the youngest goalie to ever win his postseason debut, but he was shunted into a clear reserve role in the first half of the season with Bobrovsky recapturing some of his All-Star form, which led Florida to loan Knight to AHL Charlotte for much of February to get him regular playing time.
“He played tremendous, especially in the first period into the second period,” Brunette said. “We were sloppy. He got hung out to dry and he battled, kept us in the game and brought us all the way to hopefully get at least one point out of it, but unfortunately we got nothing.”
Florida Panthers frustrated with officiating
During his postgame press conference Thursday, Brunette was still miffed about a third-period misconduct call against Anthony Duclair, claiming the officials gave him no explanation about the penalty against the winger.
“Nobody talks to me, so I have no idea. There was no explanation,” the coach said. “I guess they just do what they do. They do their thing and I have no idea the call or why.”
Brunette said Duclair didn’t give him an explanation either. The forward seemed to be shouting after the Golden Knights scored the game-winning goal with 6:37 left and a referee apparently didn’t like what he heard. The Panthers immediately went on the penalty kill for two minutes after the goal and their comeback attempt was dashed.
Winger Patric Hornqvist banged up
Patric Hornqvist left with an apparent left arm injury in the second period Thursday in Vegas and did not return. The right wing immediately went back to the locker room after laying a big hit on Golden Knights defenseman Zach Whitecloud.
Brunette wasn’t immediately sure what his status would be for Friday, but doesn’t expect it to be a long-term concern.
“He’s gonna be OK. It’s just going to be a little sore, so we’ll reevaluate him here,” he said. “We’ve just got to see where this is and we’ll make a decision or we’ll have better information by the morning.”
