Allowing a goal on the first shot you face just 53 seconds into an elimination game is not how you want to begin your Stanley Cup Playoffs career.
Stopping the next 36 consecutive shots, being named the No. 1 star of the game and helping your team stay alive for another day is exactly how you’d want to finish that rough start, though, and that was the story of Spencer Knight and the Florida Panthers on Monday.
Knight, who turned 20 in April, became the youngest goalie in NHL history to make his playoff debut in an elimination game and the second-youngest netminder to win his playoff debut as the Panthers defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 5 of their Central Division series.
“I was just trying to have fun,” Knight told reporters following the game. “You know, it's still hockey, right? I'm on this ice every single day. It's just a different setting.''
The 13th-overall pick from 2019 signed his entry-level contract with the Panthers less than two months ago and began his regular-season career 4-0-0.
Panthers coach Joel Quenneville wisely decided to start Knight after toggling between Sergei Bobrovsky and Chris Driedger over the first four games.
It became clear that with each save the rookie made, his teammates’ confidence in him grew.
“I could be here until tomorrow if you want me to say everything I want about Spencer,” Aleksander Barkov said. “He's just great.”
Game 6 goes down Wednesday in Tampa and Coach Q will undoubtedly go with Knight in net as the Panthers look to force Game 7.
The Sorokin Show stymies Penguins yet again
Pittsburgh Penguins fans are going to have nightmares about Ilya Sorokin. The New York Islanders faithful, on the other hand, will likely be peacefully dreaming of a bright future with the Russian netminder in their crease.
Sorokin is now 3-0 in the post-season with a .951 save percentage after another stellar performance in a 3-2 double overtime Islanders win.
Jordan Eberle praised his goalie’s quickness prior to the game, saying “laterally, side to side, some of the saves he makes are pretty amazing.”
We saw plenty of examples of Sorokin’s ability to take away the bottom half of the net on Monday.
The Penguins outshot the Islanders in each of the first three periods plus the first overtime session and the 25-year-old made 48 saves, establishing a new Islanders franchise record for saves by a rookie goalie in a playoff game.
“It all goes on Ilya,” Islanders coach Barry Trotz told reporters in Pittsburgh following the game. “We don't have a chance if he doesn't have an outstanding game in the first two periods, either.”
The Islanders have a chance to eliminate the Penguins for the second time in three years in Game 6 on Wednesday back on Long Island where a rowdy fan base awaits.
Kaprizov, Parise arrive but Wild had no business winning
Mark Stone opening the scoring with his fourth of the post-season for the Vegas Golden Knights could’ve sucked the air out of the Minnesota Wild but it didn’t.
The very next shift, Calder Trophy shoo-in Kirill Kaprizov scored his first-career playoff goal in the NHL and less than three minutes later Zach Parise, a healthy scratch earlier in the series, banked in the go-ahead goal for his first point in a dozen games dating back to mid-April.
Wasting no time to answer
Kirill Kaprizov pots his first #StanleyCup Playoff goal to even the score! #ItsOn pic.twitter.com/pFjP0keYkI— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 25, 2021
Jordan Greenway added an insurance marker late in the frame and the Wild were up 3-1 after 20 minutes.
Beyond that opening period, however, it was all Vegas and the lone reason the Wild were able to hold on for the W was Cam Talbot in net.
The Golden Knights outshot the Wild 22-1 in the second period yet Talbot only allowed one goal, an Alec Martinez power-play tally. The last time a team was outshot 22-1 in any period was in 1993.
The Wild were being outshot 29-8 after 40 minutes and by the end of the game, Vegas had nearly triple the output. The final shots were 40-14 but the scoreboard read 4-2 as the series now shifts back to Minnesota for Game 6 on Wednesday.
