George Richards, FHN Publisher
SUNRISE — There were a lot of questions when the Florida Panthers let goalie Anthony Stolarz leave as a free agent not long after winning the Stanley Cup.
If you are looking simply at, you know, stats — Stolarz was one of the top goalies in the NHL last season.
Starter or not.
But the Panthers had faith in Spencer Knight.
It has been rewarded.
Saturday, Knight made 20 saves for his fourth NHL shutout and first since 2022 in a 6-0 win over the Hurricanes.
Now 4-4-0 with only three goals allowed in one of his five starts in November, Knight has given the Panthers confidence that they’re going to be just fine whenever he is in net.
“He has been building as the season has gone on,” coach Paul Maurice said.
A Yearly Subscription to FHN+ 50 Percent Off: Just $39.99$19.99!
Knight has been the ‘Goalie of the Future’ for the Florida Panthers ever since Dale Tallon took him with the 13th overall pick in the 2019 draft just days before signing free agent Sergei Bobrovsky to the biggest (at the time) contract in franchise history.
We all know what happened in the years afterward.
Knight left Boston College to join the Panthers during the pandemic, took some games from a struggling Bobrovsky in the 2021 playoffs, and even appeared to wrest the starting job away early in the 2022-23 season.
Only Knight left the team to deal with extreme OCD issues months before the Panthers made their run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2023.
Knight had a pretty good season getting things back on track in the AHL last year.
He came into training camp this summer ready to show he could return to form as an NHL-caliber goalie again, to be trusted backstop when the Panthers needed him.
Guess what?
Knight has been that and more for the Panthers.
As good as Stolarz was — and is for the Toronto Maple Leafs, where he signed a two-year contract on July 1 — Knight has been more than a suitable replacement.
Had Knight not left the Panthers for treatment in 2023, we probably would not have discovered how good Alex Lyon would be.
The Panthers likely would not have targeted Stolarz to be Bobrovsky’s backup last year, either, allowing Knight the time to settle in with the AHL Charlotte Checkers and get his game back on track.
That is now history, part of his background information.
The Panthers put their trust back in Spencer Knight.
They knew his talent. They know the person.
They believed Knight could be something special.
All of that faith is paying off.
Spencer Knight is right back where he — and the Panthers — need him to be.
Saturday night, Knight spoke of how much he loves playing behind this Panthers team.
But his teammates talk about how they love playing in front of him.
Quite a few Panthers were not with the team during the 2022-23 season and did not know Knight very well.
It took them some time to buy-in, especially after that first game in Buffalo where Knight seemed nervous.
Almost like a guy playing his first game in almost two full years.
And here is a reminder: Knight is just 23.
That makes him tied for the second-youngest goalie to start a game in the NHL this season. Saturday was his 66th in his career.
Knight may be young, but he has some experience.
“I know they trust me as I trust them, and they trust Bob too,” Knight said of his teammates. “I don’t know. I try to do my best for them. I really go out there and save pucks for them. I don’t care about individual stats. I just want to win the game.”
Saturday’s 20-save shutout may not look all that impressive — 20 shots is not much, sure — but he was terrific when the Panthers needed him to be.
Aside from a disastrous first start on Oct. 12 in Buffalo, Knight has been really good for the Panthers this season.
Statistically, better than Bobrovsky.
Bobrovsky is still Florida’s starting goalie, and should be.
But at the very least, Knight has shown that he is good to go whenever the Panthers give him the net.
And they are going to be doing that more and more as the season rolls on.
”Our schedule for the rest of the year says he is just going to get more starts,’’ Maurice said. “We are still sitting on a lot of back-to-backs — and he has also earned them. In the near future, he is going to get more starts.
“He has been really good.’’