Which goalie should Florida Panthers start in Game 3?

In a 2-0 hole against the Tampa Bay Lightning, you might say it’s desperation time for the Florida Panthers.

In fact, you might have been able to say that after their Game 1 loss. Florida held a one-goal advantage heading into the last 10 minutes of regulation in the series-opener and had the Lightning right where they wanted them in a competitive game. But a costly penalty from Sam Bennett — which he got a one-game suspension for — led to a Brayden Point power-play goal that tied it up and was followed by the game-winner with just over a minute left in the third period. It’s the kind of game you just can’t let get away when facing the defending champs.

The Panthers certainly reacted to that loss in a somewhat desperate way.

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Joel Quenneville decided to change his goalies ahead of Game 2. Sergei Bobrovsky was given the nod in the opener and, though he couldn’t have been blamed for the loss, he still allowed five goals on 40 shots. The leash was apparently short after backup Chris Driedger outperformed the Russian netminder all season. Driedger was given the net in Game 2, stopped 26 of 28 shots, and wasn’t to blame for the loss, either.

Still, Quenneville was non-committal when asked who his goalie would be for Game 3.

It would seem Driedger still has the edge here, but this is a must-win game and Florida has options in net. Could they once again make a switch?

Here’s a look at the three goalies they have to choose from:

Chris Driedger

The team’s regular-season leader in GAA, SV%, and shutouts, Driedger was clearly Florida’s best goalie in all facets. The most surprising call of the series so far really was to not start Driedger in Game 1. Sure, Bobrovsky had led an upset of Tampa before with Columbus, but it’s not as though he was coming in hot. Bobrovsky’s last 10 appearances before the playoffs amounted to a .903 save percentage and he was pulled in one of them.

Driedger, on the other hand, recorded a 30-save shutout over Tampa in his final game of the regular season and had a .913 save percentage in April.

Facing the Lightning in Game 2 of their playoff series, Driedger was strong, though it was a lower event game than the series opener. He allowed two goals on 28 shots, both came in the first period, and neither were particularly his fault. He kept the Panthers in it all game until the empty-netter.

Contracts shouldn’t come into play when making decisions at this time of year, especially in a must-win game. It is worth noting, though, that Driedger will be a free agent at season’s end and is highly unlikely to return.

He’s been the best option all year. Full stop. He wasn’t to blame for the Game 2 loss. Full stop. Driedger earned the net in the regular season and did nothing to lose it in his lone playoff start. He should be given the net back for Game 3.

“All year long [Driedger] did everything you’d want,” Quenneville said ahead of Game 2. “It’s an opportunity when you’re looking at goaltending to see how he’s going to play in the playoffs. We’re going to take it one game at a time. He hasn’t had this chance in two years here so we feel it’s the right time to give him an opportunity.”

Sergei Bobrovsky

The $10 million man is going to be a headache for this team if he’s never able to find anything close to his Vezina level again. It’s now been two underwhelming seasons in Florida, and even as the team defence notably improved both in overall shots allowed and high-leverage ones in front, his save rate year over year barely moved at all.

It’s a lot of money to pay a tandem goalie, or one you’re not going to start in the playoffs. At this point, Bobrovsky might be the third-best option for the Panthers based on how he’s performed in 86 games with the team.

But while he allowed five goals in the Game 1 loss, three of those came on the power play.

The one he’d like to have back was the first goal of the game. The Lightning converted on a shorthanded opportunity where the Panthers defence broke down in front of Bobrovsky, but he was well-positioned to make the save. This play immediately followed a goal scored by Florida that was called back, so Tampa’s goal swung momentum in their favour — at least until the Panthers offence bit back.

Tampa’s second and third goals of the game were cross-ice passes that opened Bobrovsky up and left an unchecked Nikita Kucherov for two quick one-timers he did not miss.

The Panthers’ offence kept them in this one and struck back twice in the third to take another lead after Kucherov’s goals. The Bennett penalty led to Point’s power play marker to tie it. The back breaker came with 1:14 left in regulation and, again, it’s hard to blame Bobrovsky for it.

The opener of this series was called the “game of the season” by some because it was so frantic and back and forth. In the end, that’s what bit the Panthers. MacKenzie Weegar’s shot here got blocked in front, his partner was pinching in for offence and the Lightning, also leaning offence, were able to spring Point on a breakaway.

“They made a nice play on the winner,” Quenneville said after the game. “We had possession and it’s in our net. It’s one of those plays. Every shift is so critical against that team, so they can make something out of nothing.”

This is where the optics of the $10 million contract come back on Bobrovsky. That sort of commitment comes with higher expectations, so while he wasn’t the reason why Florida lost, you could make the point that perhaps he’s being paid that much to make the big save at that moment.

In the end, it was an intense game and Bobrovsky narrowly lost out on his battle with Andrei Vasilevskiy in a very offensive affair. He’s not the first, nor will he be that last, who that could be said about.

Spencer Knight

This is your wild card.

Knight has just four NHL games under his belt, all of which came at the tail end of this season after his college career ended and he signed with Florida. Three of those four games were starts, and in the other Knight played the third period when Bobrovsky got pulled.

In his three starts, Knight came away with three wins, a .911 save percentage and eight goals against. He has all the accolades you could want for a goalie prospect: first-round draft pedigree, world junior gold-medallist, Hockey East goalie and player of the year and a Hobey Baker finalist. He’s Florida’s goalie of the future, even in the shadow of Bobrovsky’s contract.

But putting him in net, down 2-0 in a playoff series, on the road against the defending champs?

That’s a tall order.

But it is an option.

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