The Florida Panthers will have rookie Spencer Knight in goal Thursday night when they visit the Chicago Blackhawks in a nationally-televised game on NBCSN.

Coach Joel Quenneville confirmed the move after Thursday’s morning skate at United Center saying the 20-year-old goalie earned it after a strong first start and nice job in relief Tuesday.

”It’s an opportunity,” Quenneville said. “I know we have a busy week here. He played well in a relief role, a short game but with Driedger being out we wanted to make sure we keep everyone rested.

“At the same time, Knighter earned it. He had two nice outings and we’ll see how he handles tonight’s situation as well..”

On Tuesday, Quenneville used the goalie hook for the first time when he pulled Sergei Bobrovsky after the second period in Nashville.

The Panthers were outshooting the Preds 42-21 at the time, yet were down 4-3 going into the second intermission.

Knight came in, made nine saves as the Panthers scored four goals in a 7-4 win. That victory helped the Panthers clinch a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Despite the pressure of joining the NHL after two successful years at Boston College not to mention his amateur career in which he was part of the U.S. National Team Developmental Program and led Team USA to Gold at the World Juniors, Knight’s maturity seems to go beyond his years.

Although goalies traditionally have taken much longer to develop at the pro level than other players, there have been goalies who have taken the step at a young age.

Perhaps Knight is ready for more.

”He is calm and collected in the net, very poised and shooting on him … he’s a bigger goalie who takes up more of the net,” Noel Acciari said on Thursday.

”What has impressed me most is his poise in net. He looks so comfortable out there. You have give credit to Bob and Driedgs because he has seen a couple of games and you know those guys are talking to him and helping his game in that sense. He looks very comfortable in net, has done a good job for us.”

The Panthers are expected to lose Chris Driedger — who is currently out with what’s believed to be a groin injury — to free agency following this season.

The thought was Florida would let Knight go to AHL Charlotte next season to get a lot of playing time what with Bobrovsky still having five years remaining on his contract. Perhaps Sam Montembeault would be the backup with Knight in Charlotte.

But that may not be the case.

Knight, at least in this very small sample size, has shown he is not fazed by the pressure of NHL life.

Another good showing Thursday could boost his already-high stock within the organization.

Of course, we are a long way from knowing what will happen next season.

Knight, to be fair, has only faced a decimated Columbus team and did not see a shot against Nashville Tuesday until his team had already taken back that game’s momentum.

If he looks good against Chicago tonight, it could be hard to pry him out of the net. Florida visits the Blackhawks again Saturday night.

“He has great demeanor, his off-ice presence has been going about his business,” Quenneville said.

“He has really quickly adapted to a different environment and settled in nicely. He’s very composed going into his practice times, game-day preperation. Then the game starts and it’s like ‘hey, we’ve been here before.’ His coolness in the net is noticible.”

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Both Montembeault and defenseman Brady Keeper where on the ice in Chicago on Thursday after being recalled from AHL Syracuse on Wednesday. That means they drove from New York to Illinois to avoid Covid-19 quarantine.

Quenneville would not commit, at least not publicly, to giving Montembeault a game as the Panthers will have four left following tonight.

Montembeault obviously has NHL experience, making his debut with the Panthers at the end of the 2018-19 season and starting last season as Bobrovsky’s backup before being replaced by Driedger. He also came up last season when Bobrovsky was hurt.

With Montembeault heading to the Panthers, Florida promoted Ryan Bednard from ECHL Greenville.

Bednard, 24, appeared in 33 games with the Swamp Rabbits going 19-6-7 record along with a 2.46 GAA and .916 save percentage. That’s pretty good in a league that does not have the best defensive structure.

— Quenneville also said that Radko Gudas and Acciari would be returning to the lineup after taking Tuesday off.

Patric Hornqvist (URI) will miss his third consecutive game with Quenneville saying he is getting better and should be back in the lineup when the Panthers return for their final homestand of the regular season next week.

Florida plays in Chicago on Saturday and then has three home games left before the playoffs.

Florida Panthers at Chicago Blackhawks