During the second period of the Panthers’ blowout loss to the Oilers in Game 4 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, Spencer Knight — the Panthers’ emergency goalie at the time — wandered into the visitors’ locker room in Edmonton, Alberta.
Inside, he found Panthers starter Sergei Bobrovsky, who had played brilliantly in the first three games of the series but now was undressing after allowing five goals and getting pulled.
‘‘He just looks at me and goes, ‘This is our life, Spencer,’ ’’ Knight recalled. ‘‘That stuck with me.’’
Bobrovsky, of course, recovered and helped lead the Panthers to their first championship, becoming the second player to hoist the Cup during their post-Game 7 celebration.
Many handoffs later, Knight was the last player to do so. For him, the moment ‘‘wasn’t as celebratory as it was motivating.’’ He got to taste honey from a beehive he didn’t build.
Knight, who will turn 24 this month, now finds himself in a dramatically different situation with the Blackhawks. He only will watch playoff hockey on TV this spring.
He has a clear understanding of the Hawks’ current situation and future plan, though. He and general manager Kyle Davidson spoke briefly about that when he was acquired in a trade March 1.
The Hawks think Knight can be a cornerstone of their future core, which has become more visible recently as many of their prospects graduate into the NHL. This is his opportunity — and Connor Bedard’s opportunity and Artyom Levshunov’s opportunity and so on — to build a beehive from scratch.
And within that future core, Knight’s playoff experience might turn out to be a unique asset.
Hawks veterans Alec Martinez and Pat Maroon have won Cups, and other veteran additions in coming years might bring similar résumés. But no other Hawks youngster has seen firsthand what Knight has.
After Knight was beaten by Capitals star Alex Ovechkin twice Friday in Washington (although he managed to delay Ovechkin’s record-setting 895th career goal), he was in a contemplative mood, and an interview question prompted him to daydream about the Hawks’ future.
‘‘When you see the joy that [winning a championship] brings to the team, the organization and the city, it makes you want to do it again,’’ Knight said. ‘‘That’s what I am building toward. Everyone on the team and management is looking at that as our ultimate goal.
‘‘How we get there and when, you can’t predict that. It’s too hard to get to that point . . . to say, ‘You’ll get there.’ It’s just so hard. I witnessed that. I haven’t really experienced it, but I can understand it. I just know it takes a lot, and that’s what I hope I can help bring to the team.’’
What he learned
Knight described himself as a ‘‘fly on the wall’’ during the Panthers’ 2022 and 2024 playoff runs. Obviously, if he had been playing, those would have been invaluable, unforgettable experiences. Nonetheless, the bird’s-eye view had its perks for a young goalie trying to find his way as a pro.
‘‘I was very mindful about observing,’’ Knight said. ‘‘[I was] not just watching the games but seeing the emotions after a big win or devastating loss.’’
In 2022, the Panthers trailed the Capitals 2-1 in their first-round series and also trailed 2-1 late in Game 4. On the verge of getting pushed to the brink, Sam Reinhart scored an equalizer and the Panthers rallied to win in overtime before winning Games 5 and 6, as well. That was Knight’s introduction to the absurdly narrow margins between success and failure in the playoffs.
But the Panthers have figured out how to succeed consistently within those margins.
‘‘Everyone is very selfless,’’ Knight said. ‘‘Instead of, ‘Oh, we’ll have the third- and fourth-liners grind it out, and the top guys will just dangle,’ no, the top-liners are also [grinding]. Even at the beginning of this year, in regular-season games, you’ve got Reinhart going out to block shots on one knee. The guy has scored 50 goals. He doesn’t have to do that, but he does.
‘‘When you see that, for me it’s like, ‘I want to buy in to help him win.’ It’s a well-oiled machine, and they have really good commitment. And that’s something I think we can build here.’’
Knight’s biggest takeaway: Emotional steadiness is crucial. Bobrovsky, in his opinion, does that better than anyone.
‘‘You can’t get too high or too low,’’ he said. ‘‘That’s [the mantra] I try to live off, really, in almost anything I do. It’s a roller coaster, and if you go for that ride, it can be chaotic and stressful and a lot. Whereas if you keep your emotions in check, you’re prepared to go the distance — seven games, all the way, every series.’’
How it applies
Knight is quick to defer to players such as Martinez and Maroon, insisting he knows little compared to them. He recognizes, however, that he’s lucky to have gotten this much playoff experience this early in his career.
‘‘It’s just my path,’’ he said. ‘‘Everyone has their own path. Everyone can bring a unique perspective to the table, not just as a player but as a person, too.’’
For most people, picturing this Hawks team making deep playoff runs and contending for championships is difficult right now. They couldn’t be further from that reality.
In theory, however, most of the pain and misery of the rebuild should be in the past. The hordes of talented youngsters are arriving, and watching them develop should be an enjoyable, uplifting process. Davidson continues to believe they collectively — eventually — will make the Hawks as formidable as the Panthers are now.
And Knight, for one, sees value in thinking that way.
‘‘Things change fast,’’ he said. ‘‘I’ve seen it, getting traded and [dealing with] health things. It’s [about finding] a balance of having that big vision that’s motivating while also focusing on the day-to-day grind.
‘‘If you focus too much on the big vision, you’re going to be out of it. You’re not going to be like, ‘OK, you need to do something today,’ and that’s all you can control. But at the same time, if you just focus on the day-to-day grind, it can get very repetitive. It can [feel like], ‘What is this worth?’ That’s why I try to balance both.’’