What Spencer Knight’s strong finish means for Panthers’ goalie situation in the playoffs
Not many goaltenders in the history of hockey have accomplished more before their 21st birthday than Spencer Knight.
The American, who turns 21 on Tuesday, is already a World Junior champion and the second youngest goalie in NHL history to win his postseason debut. In Broward County, he’s already a cult hero for briefly keeping the Florida Panthers’ season alive by shutting down the eventual-champion Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs. Only three goalies younger than Knight ever won a playoff game.
Almost a year has passed since Knight’s breakout performance and, near the end of an up-and-down rookie campaign, he’s once again rounding into form just in time for the start of the Cup playoffs. With seven games left in the regular season, the Panthers’ goaltending situation — which seemed as if it could be a potential weakness as recently as last week, when Sergei Bobrovsky was struggling — is starting to turn back into a possible strength, at least in part because of how Knight is performing.
“Both of them have been rock solid here of late,” interim coach Andrew Brunette said Sunday after Knight anchored a 6-1 rout of the Detroit Red Wings. “They’re both extremely sharp right now, so it’s good to see.”
Bobrovsky, a two-time Vezina Trophy winner, has played at an All-Star level for most of the season. Knight, who began the season as a possible Calder Memorial Trophy favorite, has been one of the most consistent goalies in the league since the start of March.
If the regular season ended right now, Brunette would have the luxury of two good goaltenders to choose from.
He has made it clear, though: Unless something drastically changes in the final two weeks of the season, Bobrovsky will start Florida’s first game in the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs. In all likelihood, he’ll start the second, too, and the Panthers would like him to start virtually every one they play in May and June.
“Bob’s our goalie,” interim coach Andrew Brunette said April 7, when the star goaltender was coming off his worst two-game stretch of the season, and Bobrovsky has returned to form in his three starts since with three wins and a .922 save percentage.
Still, Knight has done everything he can in the second half of the season to make it a tough decision for the coaching staff and Brunette said he’s not yet sure who will start Tuesday when Florida (54-15-6) faces the New York Islanders (35-31-9) at 7:30 p.m. at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York.
With 33 saves on 34 shots Sunday, Knight’s save percentage is up to .926 since he returned the American Hockey League (AHL) early in March — the fourth best mark among goalies with at least 10 starts since the start of the month.
The chase to get regular playing time with AHL Charlotte in February after spending the first half of the season as a clear-cut backup helped Knight recapture his form.
“It’s definitely helped me,” Knight said April 8. “Practice is one thing, but I kind of drive myself when I practice too much. You’re just overthinking it, whereas when you’re just playing you’re just playing and that’s what I love to do. I love to play.”
In the same stretch, Bobrovsky’s save percentage is .898, although it’s heavily weighed down by an abysmal three-game stretch at the beginning of April when he posted a .787 save percentage and twice got pulled before the start of the third period.
Over the course of a season, every player is going to have ups and downs, and they’re more magnified in net, where a goalie can almost singlehandedly lose a game with enough prominent gaffes. Right now, Knight is riding one of those highs.
“It’s extremely important to have the luxury of having two world-class goalies,” Brunette said.
Ideally, the Panthers would like to ride Bobrovsky through the entirety of the Cup playoffs. Understandably, South Florida has some trust issues with the two-time All-Star after he gave up 10 goals on 63 shots in the 2021 playoffs.
Even if he can’t usurp Bobrovsky, Knight is one of the league’s best insurance policies he’s lately playing like the best version of the 33-year-old Russian. Bobrovsky’s strength has always been the art of the spectacular save and right now Knight is doing it better than him, with the second best high-danger save percentage in the league, according to MoneyPuck.com.
At the same time, Bobrovsky’s weakness has always been the inexplicable goals he too often lets through and Knight this year has been worse than Bobrovsky in this area with a low-danger save percentage outside the top 30.
Less than two weeks ago, the dilemma Brunette faced was whether to go with the goalie having a better season or the one better in the moment. Now, Florida is in good shape with either one and has a new dilemma: If depth is what makes their goaltending a strength, how long a leash should be the Panthers give Bobrovsky — or Knight — to best utilize it?
