Florida Panthers
It’s Knight Time for the Panthers, Levi Goes for the Sabres

Spencer Knight and Devon Levi were once both top goaltending prospects for the Panthers. Tonight they meet in opposing nets when Florida visits the Buffalo Sabres.
Knight will be making his first start for the Panthers in almost two years.
His previous start for Florida came on Feb. 18, 2023, in a loss to the Nashville Predators.
A few days later, the Panthers assigned Knight to their AHL team in Charlotte to get some games in due to Florida’s spread-out schedule — only he ended up leaving the team to receive treatment for OCD by joining the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program.
Knight, 23, rejoined the Panthers later that summer but spent all of last season playing for the AHL Checkers.
After being assigned to Charlotte for salary cap reasons out of training camp, Knight was back with the Panthers on Wednesday and gets the start in the team’s third game of the season.
“He had a really good camp,’’ coach Paul Maurice said Saturday. “He is more powerful and faster than he was. He really took the time and did the work. One of the advantages we had in our playoff run was that we had players here training for two months. Spencer was in fantastic shape when it came to camp and has looked good.”
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Speaking with FHN before the end of training camp, Knight said he is happy to be back with the Panthers — but that last season with Charlotte was extremely beneficial to his development.
“I think last year was great,’’ Knight said. “I went to Charlotte, and the team there — the coaches, the staff, my teammates — are terrific, and, it’s a great city. But I was able to just go out there and play. For me, last year felt like the most I had felt like a professional hockey player in the sense that I could just get into the games, feel the games, go through the ups-and-downs.
“Sometimes, when you are on the bench and the team gets a big win, yeah, you’re pumped up. But it’s not the same feeling. It’s not the same as if you had to make the big save at the end to win it — or, gave up the goal at the end to lose it. I thought it was a great learning experience.’’
Levi was a seventh-round pick of the Panthers in 2020, the No. 212 pick.
This was Bill Zito’s first draft as GM of the Panthers and, when it got to the seventh round, Roberto Luongo pushed for Florida to take Levi.
Levi’s stock took off after that, and he ended up starting for Team Canada in the World Juniors later that year — losing to Knight and Team USA in the Gold Medal game.
It looked like Florida may have two so-called Goalies of the Future in Knight and Levi — only to complete the trade which sent Sam Reinhart to the Panthers in 2021, Florida had to include Levi in the deal with Buffalo.
Luongo broke the news to the now-former Northeastern University standout.
Levi, 22, made his NHL debut with the Sabres two seasons ago; tonight will be his 32nd NHL start and first against the Panthers.
Last season was one in which Levi split time with the Sabres and AHL Rochester — and sounds a lot like Knight when it comes to talking about his time in the minors.
“I was really able to find my rhythm,” Levi told Paul Hamilton of Buffalo’s WGR-550 during training camp. “I was able to feel comfortable, I was playing a lot. I was able to get into a flow, and I was having fun. I was having a great time.
“The boys were unreal in ‘Roch’. They were an awesome team to play for. And when I came up to play a few games, I felt good there too. … My time in ‘Roch’ really helped me. I feel like I developed a lot, and I was really able to focus on what I wanted to work on. I wouldn’t give it up for the world.”
ON DECK: GAME 3
FLORIDA PANTHERS AT BUFFALO SABRES
- When: Saturday, 7 p.m.
- Where: KeyBank Center, Buffalo
- Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/Fort Lauderdale); WHDT 9 (West Palm); LAFF 36.3 (Naples/Fort Myers)
- Streaming: Panthers+; ESPN+
- Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
- Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
- Last Season (Panthers Won 3-0) — At Buffalo: Panthers 4, Sabres 0 (Feb. 15). At Florida: Panthers 3, Sabres 2 (Feb. 28); Panthers 3, Sabres 2 OT (Ap.13).
- All-time Regular Season Series: Florida leads 57-45-8, 4 ties
- Up Next for the Panthers: Monday at Boston Bruins, 1 p.m. (Local TV)
