A lot of talk in the Florida Panthers’ dressing room nowadays has focused on the need to go on an extended run, to rack up as many wins as possible as quickly as possible to keep their hopes for a Stanley Cup Playoff berth alive.
You won’t hear that kind of talk from goaltender Spencer Knight. He isn’t wired that way.
Knight, 21, prefers to stay grounded in the present, live in the moment and not let what might need to happen in the future impact what he can accomplish today.
“Every win’s a big win,” Knight said, “and the next game is always the biggest game of our lives, right? It’s just one of those things.”
That mind-set was reinforced after the Panthers’ 5-3 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday, a game in which Knight made 33 saves — including all of the final 17 he faced — and recorded his first NHL assist on Matthew Tkachuk’s second-period power-play goal that completed Tkachuk’s hat trick and capped scoring.
It was the type of game Knight needed. It was his first dominant performance in net in nearly a month, during which time he was sidelined by illness and then rode the bench as teammate Sergei Bobrovsky over the bulk of the playing time in December.
It was also the type of game the Panthers (17-18-4) need to build on as they prepare for a four-game road trip that begins Friday against the Detroit Red Wings (16-12-7) and continues Sunday against the Dallas Stars, Tuesday against the Colorado Avalanche and Dec. 12 against the Vegas Golden Knights.
That’s already thinking too far ahead for Knight, though. What was the goaltender thinking about after his performance Tuesday?
“We have a day off [Wednesday],” Knight said. “I’m going to relax, enjoy some time off and then we’re going to have a practice and travel [Thursday]. That’s as far as I’m getting. Two days maybe. I’m not thinking about a run. I just think about the next game. I don’t look at standings. Just play.”
In a sense, Knight has to prepare this way. He doesn’t play every game, splitting time in net with the veteran Bobrovsky. Coach Paul Maurice has ridden the hot hand in net over the past two months and will need to stick with that course of action as the Panthers try to climb above seventh place in the Atlantic Division over the second half of the season.
For a six-game stretch from Nov. 23 to Dec. 6, the net was Knight’s. He started every game in that stretch — his longest run of consecutive starts in his young career — and put up a .920 save percentage. Florida picked up points in each of the first five outings before Knight was pulled early in the second period on Dec. 6 against the Winnipeg Jets.
“It was his first kind of run — a mini run — that he had this year,” Maurice said, “and he played well in that.”
Knight missed nearly two weeks after that with an illness and has been in the net three times total over the past 13 games with Maurice riding Bobrovsky for almost all of December.
This isn’t unfamiliar territory for Knight — being the No. 2 goalie, not getting the consistent playing time, finding ways to stay sharp and prepared despite not getting the live reps against opponents when the adrenaline is pumping.
He struggled with it at times last year, with his save percentage dipping below .900 at points before the All-Star Break last season and Florida even sending him to their minor-league affiliate for a month so that he would get steady playing time.
“It’s definitely hard,” Knight said. “It’s one of the things I’ve been working on it and I think I’ve gotten a lot better. For me, I found that when I’m not playing, just try to be as good of a teammate as I can. Open doors as fast as I can and try to get the guys on the ice quicker.”
So Knight is taking his season one outing at a time. The future will play out how it needs to from there.
“You can’t really look at when you play,” Knight said. “It’s more just when you do, try to be ready. When you’re not, be as supportive as you can to the other guys.”
