Spencer Knight brings stability the Blackhawks have been lacking

The Chicago Blackhawks are in an unusual position seven games into the NHL Season... they are still in a playoff spot.

The Blackhawks' 2-1 overtime win over the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday saw the Hawks outshot 39 to 30, and saw the team spend a lot of time in the defensive zone. Yet, Blackhawks netminder Spencer Knight kept them in the game, making some big saves along the way.

Spencer Knight has had his teammates' back since joining the Blackhawks.

The Blackhawks have had some underwhelming starting goaltender performances since Corey Crawford left the team at the end of the 2019-20 NHL Season. The team has taken to the ice with Petr Mrazek, Arvid Soderblom, Alex Stalock, Jaxson Stauber, Marc-Andre Fleury, Kevin Lankinen, Collin Delia, and Malcolm Subban in the years since Crawford's departure—but no one has been able to provide a reliable, steady presence in that time.

Knight is that goaltender. Someone who can keep the Hawks in a close game they may not deserve to be in. Someone who will make a big save when the team needs it most, and someone who isn't going to give up a soft goal to make a bad night worse.

Spencer Knight is only 24 years old. He was drafted in the first round of the 2019 NHL Draft and just played in his 100th NHL game on Sunday. Through five games, Knight has a .937 save percentage and a goals against average of just 1.96—he is playing some of his best hockey in his career right now, and no moment is fazing him.

Knight was just 36 seconds away from his sixth shutout of his NHL career on Sunday when Mason McTavish scored on the power play to tie the game up at 1, but Knight didn't panic. When asked postgame how he handled the situation, he was blunt.

"[I] just took a drink of water, and kept going," Knight said postgame.

That may seem like a simple response, but that is the type of attitude the Blackhawks need right now. Knight at 24 fits into the young core the Blackhawks are building, but in many ways, he is a veteran with more experience than some of the Hawks' most well-traveled players.

Knight has been a part of a winning culture in Florida and has seen firsthand how to handle the ebbs and flows of a season. Of the Blackhawks' first seven games, they have played in five one-goal games and stuck with it night in and night out. Knight spoke of the team's resilience postgame.

"It's a privilege to be in positions where you are in close games," he said. "So I think it's important for us to realize, too. Is that you could say, we're losing these games. We were so close. We're so close. But, you know, and that's what the NHL is."

Knight said that when it comes playoff time, it isn't big blowout games—it's a close battle fighting for every shift, every pass, and every goal.

"They're gonna be one-goal games," he said. "It's a privilege to be in that situation. And I think it's good for us to be in those situations where it means something in the end, playing all the way to the buzzer in the third period."

The Blackhawks' defense is young. On Sunday, they dressed Sam Rinzel, Wyatt Kaiser, Louis Crevier, and Artyom Levshunov, yet they played a defensive sound game. Two of the team's top penalty killers were out as well, in Nick Foligno and Jason Dickinson, but the team carried on with Knight making a major impact.

"It's just kind of like a next man up mentality, I guess," Knight said. "A lot of great players that we all trust. To me, I don't really even think twice about who is on the ice. I just trust all our guys and whoever is out there, I know I have their back and they have mine."