George Richards, FHN Publisher
The Florida Panthers can breathe a sigh of relief after officially clinching a playoff spot Tuesday night. Yet, the games continue. On Thursday, Florida visits the Chicago Blackhawks. Will Spencer Knight be in net?
NARRATOR: He will be.
Although it did not look like Knight would get more than one game after he made his NHL debut last week, the 20-year-old rookie was pressed into service Tuesday when Joel Quenneville went to the bullpen and brought in Knight to replace Sergei Bobrovsky in Nashville.
It was a big moment for Knight as he was asked to come in and help the Panthers stop the bleeding knowing what was on the line.
Florida was outshooting the Predators 42-21 through the first two periods yet were down 4-3 at the intermission.
Quenneville pulled Bobrovsky and handed the net to the kid who is still wearing his Boston College-themed mask as well as his Team USA pads (which, kind of work with the Panthers’ color scheme).
Knight did not have to do a lot of heavy lifting Thursday but he answered the call regardless.
After stopping all nine shots thrown his way Tuesday night and the Panthers scoring four goals in the third, Florida clinched its playoff spot with a 7-4 victory. Knight got the win, the second of his young NHL career.
The Panthers were off Wednesday and Quenneville has not said who will start Thursday night. But with Chris Driedger out with what is thought to be a groin injury, he gets to choose between Knight and Bobrovsky.
That is of course newly recalled Sam Montembeault drives to Chicago from AHL Syracuse — which is a real possibility.
Regardless, after Tuesday night’s win in relief, Knight deserves another start. Montembeault may get one as well.
UPDATE: Not only will Knight be starting Thursday, but Monetembeault is with the team as well. Quenneville would not commit to Montembeault getting a start.
“For a young goaltender, he has that swagger to him,” Frank Vatrano said Tuesday night. “He has confidence. We were supporting him going in and knew he could get the job done. He’s a young goaltender but he plays with confidence and that’s huge. He was good for us back there.”
Quenneville and the Panthers have been impressed with Knight’s demeanor since he arrived.
Knight, the 13th overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft, is viewed as Florida’s ‘Goalie of the Future.’ At least Thursday, that may be the immediate future.
In his amateur career, Knight has played in some big games of that there is no doubt.
There was some concern how he would react to playing actual NHL competition. It is a big jump from the college ranks to the NHL for a forward much less a goalie who turned 20 the day before his debut last week against Columbus.
“Solid, composed, comporable to how he played in his first start in how he handles the puck, makes plays,’’ Quenneville said Tuesday night.
“He shows complete composure. It was a pretty important game. He came in like ‘hey, been there.’ He did his thing.”
Yet even in his first NHL debut, Knight looked like a cagy veteran.
Jonathan Huberdeau said the only reason you knew it was his debut was due to him taking his rookie lap to kick off warmups.
Against Columbus, Knight stopped 33 of 34 shots faced in a 5-1 win.
An offside call kept a second Jack Roslovic puck out of the net, but still. Knight was solid in his NHL debut and he was again when facing some adversity on the road Thursday.
”He was solid, he is obviously a great goalie,” Huberdeau said after Knight’s first game. “We knew he would be great; you would think he would be nervous but it did not show out there. The way he moves the puck when he gets out of the net is pretty incredible.”
Said Knight: “I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be. The guys did a really good job and I was just trying to play hockey. It’s just hockey. But this is a great league, it’s so good.”
Knight may even get to square off against former BC teammate Mike Hardman who made his NHL debut with the Blackhawks on Tuesday night in a 7-4 loss to Tampa Bay.
PANTHERS NEED ‘BIG GAME BOB’
With Chicago basically playing out the string (the surprising Blackhawks have come back to earth and are now seven points back of the final playoff spot) why not give Knight another go?
Well, the Panthers need Bobrovsky to get right and quick.
After a strong run a few weeks ago where Bobrovsky was on top of his game, things haven’t been great of late.
Not only did he give up four goals on 21 shots against the Predators, but he has gone 3-3 in seven starts this month with a .899 save percentage and 2.88 GAA.
In March, he won six consecutive games and won eight of 11 starts; Bobrovsky’s save percentage was .914 and his GAA was 2.64.
When it comes to goals-saved above average, Bobrovsky ranks at minus-3.2 which is an improvement from last year’s minus-14.9 but still is less than ideal.
For reference, Tampa Bay Andrei Vasilevskiy is at plus-21.5 which leads the league. Driedger is at plus-8.9 which ranks 10th.
Bobrovsky remains Florida’s starting goalie, but with five games left before the playoffs, Florida needs him to be at his best not only for his own confidence but for the team in front of him.
To be fair, Florida’s defensive effort in front of Bobrovsky wasn’t exactly stellar Tuesday. But there were two goals he should have stopped.
Florida has not fared well against Nashville’s Juuse Saros this season and were finally putting some pucks past him. It needed some stops on its own side and did not get them.
Ryan Ellis scored on a one-timer from the right circle with 22.9 seconds left in the second period to give Nashville the lead back was the final shot Bobrovsky would face this night.
“The change of momentum in that area,’’ Quenneville said, “we all thought that was the right thing.”
MORE LINEUP CHANGES?
As far as the rest of the lineup goes, Quenneville is expected to keep in some of the young players who got in Tuesday. Both Aleksi Heponiemi and Grigori Denisenko looked good in their return to the NHL and gave the Panthers some speed and aggressive play.
Patric Hornqvist missed the past two games with an upper body injury and could be out again; Noel Acciari, who missed five games before returning Monday, could also sit this one out. He’s another guy Florida needs to be right when the playoffs start.
Florida could also reward taxi/practice squad players such as Kevin Connauton, Noah Juulsen, Cole Schwindt and Scott Wilson. Mason Marchment has also been out a few games since taking a high hit and will draw in soon.
Wednesday, Florida called up Montembeault and defenseman Brady Keeper. Both could find their way into the lineup if not Thursday but perhaps Saturday or Monday.
We will see how the lineup looks Thursday morning.
These next three games could be a hodgepodge when it comes to lineups.
A lot of players who have not gotten much of a chance are going to get it between these two games in Chicago and next Monday against Dallas.
But, when Tampa Bay comes to town for the final homestand of the regular season expect Quenneville to prepare for the playoffs with a lineup to match.
VINNIE BACK HOME IN CHICAGO
Vinnie Hinostroza did not do much during his short stint with the Panthers but is back playing for his hometown Blackhawks and seems to be really digging it.
As he should be.
Since the Panthers traded Hinostroza back to the Blackhawks at the start of the month, he has two goals and nine points in played in 10 games.
In nine games with the Panthers, Hinostroza had no points.
Tuesday, he was on the top line with Patrick Kane.
Earlier this week, The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus did a piece on Hinostroza’s return and his time with the Panthers. Hinostroza signed a one-year deal with Florida in the offseason and was excited about being reunited with Quenneville.
Only things didn’t work out.
“I don’t really know what went wrong,” Hinostroza said. “They didn’t really talk to me too much. I tried to go to talk to them a few times and ask what I needed to do, and they never really gave me too much of an answer.
“I practiced with the team probably under 10 times, just skating with the taxi squad and working out. I wanted to be playing, but all I could do was go to those practices every day and be the best I can, just so I could be ready when I get get a chance.”
HEY GUYS!
The Panthers will also be facing Brett Connolly and Riley Stillman for the first time since the deadline trade. Florida sent Connolly, Stillman and Henrik Borgstrom to the Blackhawks for Lucas Wallmark and Lucas Carlsson.
Connolly scored a goal in his first game with the Hawks but hasn’t registered a point since; Stillman has yet to score in six games with the Blackhawks but did get a three-year contract extension.
Florida Panthers at Chicago Blackhawks
PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS LINES
FLORIDA FORWARDS
20 Aleksi Heponiemi — 16 Sasha Barkov — 91 Anthony Duclair
11 Jonathan Huberdeau — 9 Sam Bennett — 14 Grigori Denisenko
77 Frank Vatrano — 21 Alex Wennberg — 74 Owen Tippett
94 Ryan Lomberg — 55 Noel Acciari — 94 Nikita Gusev
FLORIDA DEFENSEMEN
42 Gus Forsling — 52 MacKenzie Weegar
65 Markus Nutivaara — 62 Brandon Montour
3 Keith Yandle — 7 Radko Gudas
FLORIDA GOALIES
30 Spencer Knight
72 Sergei Bobrovsky
Scratches: F Eetu Luostarinen, D Matt Kiersted, D Anton Stralman, F Juho Lammikko, F Lucas Wallmark
Injured: F Carter Verhaeghe (upper body, return next week); G Chris Driedger (LBI, day-to-day); F Patric Hornqvist (URI, d2d); F Mason Marchment (UBI, d2d); D Noah Juulsen (UBI, TBD); D Aaron Ekblad (leg, out for regular season)
Taxi squad: D Kevin Connauton, F Cole Schwindt, F Scott Wilson, G Philippe Desrosiers, G Sam Montembeault, D Brady Keeper
Florida power play (36/170 21.2% — 13th in NHL)
Florida penalty kill (119/150 79.3% — 17th in NHL)
PP1: Sasha Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Anthony Duclair, Sam Bennett, Keith Yandle
PP2: Alex Wennberg, Owen Tippett, Frank Vatrano, Nikita Gusev, MacKenzie Weegar
PROJECTED CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS LINES
CHICAGO FORWARDS
13 Vinnie Hinostroza — 17 Dylan Strome— 88 Patrick Kane
12 Alex DeBrincat — 77 Kirby Dach — 38 Brandon Hagel
8 Dominic Kubalik — 64 David Kampf — 24 Pius Suter
86 Mike Hardman — 11 Adam Gaudette — 20 Brett Connolly
CHICAGO DEFENSEMEN
2 Duncan Keith — 5 Connor Murphy
16 Nikita Zadorov — 74 Nicolas Beaudin
61 Riley Stillman — 48 Wyatt Kalynuk
CHICAGO GOALIES
32 Kevin Lankinen
30 Malcolm Subban
Chicago power play (35/156, 21.2% — 13th in NHL)
Chicago penalty kill (104/136 76.5% — 27th in NHL)
PP1: Dylan Strome, Patrick Kane, Adam Gaudette, Alex DeBrincat, Duncan Keith
PP2: Pius Sutter, Kirby Dach, Brett Connolly, Dominik Kubalik, Connor Murphy