George Richards, FHN Publisher
Two weeks ago, not long before the Florida Panthers opened their five-game road trip in Edmonton, it was written here that for the team to get out of their slump, better goaltending would be needed.
Florida has now won its past two games heading into the final game of this trip Tuesday night in Winnipeg.
Goaltending has been key to those two wins.
Spencer Knight has been the netminder providing it — stopping a total of 67 shots in dual 5-1 wins over Vancouver and Seattle.
That’s a combined .971 save percentage and it came at a time when the Panthers certainly needed it.
And, with starts in the past two games and nine of the past 13, it is apparent the Panthers have a new starting goalie.
For now, anyway.
Knight is deserving of the added playing time.
That does not mean this is a permanent shift, for the Panthers know they need Sergei Bobrovsky to come back to form as well.
Sitting too long is no good for Bobrovsky just as we saw that being the case for Knight at the start of last season.
But the Panthers need wins, need to start making some noise when it comes to playoff positioning what with Boston and Toronto running away with the top two spots in the Atlantic Division.
They cannot afford to play Bobrovsky just to keep him happy, no, he has to deserve to play.
Bobrovsky’s performances over the past month — save for a terrific start against the Capitals — have simply not been good enough.
You cannot say the same for Knight.
Coach Paul Maurice wanted one of his goalies to take hold of the job and run with it and Knight is the guy who has done so.
Since Nov. 6 in Anaheim, Knight has been getting most of the action.
In that game against the Ducks, Knight made 32 saves as Florida got a win the night after sustaining a loss to the Kings.
Knight has gone 5-2-3 in that span — with the NHL giving him the loss to Dallas despite coming in to replace Bobrovsky in the second period down 4-0.
The Panthers have been impressed with Knight’s demeanor since he arrived in South Florida, his professionalism in preparing and the lack of panic when games start to go off the rails.
Knight may give up some goals — and he has — but it does not seem to affect his performance in the aftermath of a bad goal or game.
Bobrovsky, on the other hand, appears to fight the puck at times and if it is early in a game, it is usually bad news moving forward.
When Bobrovsky is on, he is terrific. One of the top goalies in the league.
But on nights he is off, well, you get what happened in Calgary when he looked like a wide-eyed rookie not knowing what hit him.
Knight has played every game since that 6-2 loss to the Flames last Tuesday night.
Looking ahead at the schedule, you can write Knight in to start Tuesday in Winnipeg and most likely Thursday at home against Detroit.
Florida has a back-to-back this weekend, playing in Tampa on Saturday and home against the Kraken on Sunday. Bobrovsky will get one of those games.
The Panthers will be watching that start pretty closely.
Bobrovsky will get his chance to retake the net, but he is going to put together some good starts and not just here and there.
Right now, Bobrovsky’s numbers are near the bottom of the league. His save percentage of .878 ranks 55th among goalies, his 3.94 goals-against average 49th.
In November, Bobrovsky went 2-3-0 with a 4.70/.860 — and has given up four goals or more in four of his past five starts.
Knight, meanwhile is ranked sixth with a .923 and ninth at 2.49.
More than just getting his numbers up, the Panthers need Bobrovsky to give them the confidence he will give them a chance to win when he gets in net.
To do that, he needs to play.
But the way Knight has been going, he may not give him that chance.
At least not right now.