GameDay No. 15: Lines, Betting Odds for Oilers at Panthers

SUNRISE — Spencer Knight will be back in net for the Florida Panthers when they play host to the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday.

After a 40-save shutout Wednesday against Carolina, of course he is.

This will be the third consecutive start for the Panthers but that does not mean the team has a goalie controversy going.

Coach Paul Maurice grabbed Sergei Bobrovsky as Knight was skating off the ice Friday morning with the two having a pretty good conversation about how things are going.

Knight will be making his fifth start in the past seven games for the Panthers after Bobrovsky got six of the opening eight.

“You don’t want to assume these guys get all these things and (Bobrovsky) has been around a long time,” Maurice said. “I have a bunch of conversations and I feel very strongly that he knows exactly why these three or four games have gone (to Knight) and what I am thinking. … I’m not letting anyone go on a 10-game run because that does not do the Florida Panthers any good. Both guys have to play.”

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When it comes to a potential goalie controversy in South Florida, Maurice said he wants to have two goalies ready and able to come in at any point and perhaps play a few games in a row.

But he does not want one guy hogging all the playing time allowing the other guy to get rusty along the way.

Both Knight and Bobrovsky are NHL starting goalies — only thing is, the Panthers have but one net.

“There is a bulk of games for them,” Maurice said. “We are not interested in having one goaltender run the table. We need both goaltenders and we may well rotate them. It could be Bob or Spencer, but we want them to be able to get into some sort of rhythm when they’re feeling very good. It’s not so much the shutout, but it is good, solid play.”

With that said, Maurice hinted that Bobrovsky would be back in net against Washington on Tuesday night.

PANTHERS ON DECK

EDMONTON OILERS AT FLORIDA PANTHERS

• When: Saturday, 4 p.m.
• Where: FLA Live Arena, Sunrise
• TV/Streaming: Bally Sports Florida; ESPN+
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932
• DraftKings odds — Florida favored: Money Line (-170); Puck line (-1.5, +145); Over/Under 7 (-105/-115)
• Last season: Split 1-1
  
• All-time regular season series: Edmonton leads 21-14-0, 3 ties

PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS LINEUP

23 Carter Verhaeghe // 16 Sasha Barkov // 19 Matthew Tkachuk

94 Ryan Lomberg // 15 Anton Lundell // 13 Sam Reinhart

27 Eetu Luostarinen // 9 Sam Bennett // 6 Colin White

21 Nick Cousins // 12 Eric Staal // 70 Patric Hornqvist

42 Gus Forsling // 62 Brandon Montour

5 Aaron Ekblad // 18 Marc Staal

28 Josh Mahura // 7 Radko Gudas

30 Spencer Knight

72 Sergei Bobrovsky

Scratched: None

Injured: Anthony Duclair (LTIR-Achilles)

PROJECTED EDMONTON OILERS LINEUP

93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins // 97 Connor McDavid // 13 Jesse Puljujarvi

55 Dylan Holloway // 29 Leon Draisaitl // 18 Zach Hyman

37 Warren Foegele // 71 Ryan McLeod // 21 Klim Kostin

26 Mattias Janmark // 14 Devin Shore // 10 Derek Ryan

25 Darnell Nurse // 5 Cody Ceci

27 Brett Kulak // 2 Evan Bouchard

28 Ryan Murray // 22 Tyson Barrie

74 Stuart Skinner

36 Jack Campbell