Sergei Bobrovsky is suddenly locked in. Here’s why the Panthers think he can keep it up
Sergei Bobrovsky needed to play three perfect minutes for the Florida Panthers to escape with a win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.
They had nearly squandered an exceptional start by melting down on offense and letting the Blue Jackets back within one goal as the final minutes ticked away in Columbus. The Blue Jackets went on a power play and pulled their goaltender to create a 6-on-4 advantage in the last three minutes. Bobrovsky and Co. needed to execute one more penalty kill to avoid overtime, and they delivered.
“A huge kill at the end,” coach Joel Qunneville said after the 4-2 win Tuesday. “Bob was a big factor in the PK, especially at the end holding it off.”
Bobrovsky’s teammates blocked a pair of shots and the goaltender didn’t face a single one during Columbus’ two-minute power play. In the final minute, he saved the Panthers, denying Patrik Laine, the Blue Jackets’ star winger, on a pair of one-timers to cap the signature performance of his rapidly improving season.
Bobrovsky finished with a season-high 38 saves on 40 shots for a .950 save percentage — his second best single-game mark of the season — and won a third straight game in net. His save percentage is up to .905, and his goals against average is down to 2.94. In his second season in Florida, Bobrovsky is showcasing signs of progress.
“I feel great,” Bobrovsky said Tuesday. “The last few games — five, six games — I feel unreal and I feel focused. I feel strong and confident. It’s just fun to be around and fun to be part of this team. They play great hockey. As I said, everybody delivers. Every night, somebody steps up big or somebody steps up a little smaller, but we pull the rope in the same direction and it’s definitely fun to be part of it.”
Since he lost back-to-back games midway through February, Bobrovsky has put together one of his best five-game stretches since he joined the Panthers on a seven-year, $70 million deal ahead of the 2019-20 NHL season. In his past five games, Bobrovsky has posted a .927 save percentage and 2.60 goals against average. Both marks would place him in the top 10 in the NHL if sustained across the full season, and only three players have a better save percentage this year.
The Panthers have won four of five with Bobrovsky in goal, and the loss came in a shootout against the Carolina Hurricanes.
The 32-year-old will start a second consecutive game Thursday when Florida (16-5-4) returns to Nationwide Arena and try to sweep a two-game series with Columbus (10-12-5) in the finale of a three-game road trip.
Star center Aleksander Barkov, who didn’t practice Wednesday in Ohio, will suit up, but the Panthers will likely wait until they return to Sunrise on Saturday to bring back Anthony Duclair, Quenneville said. The winger hasn’t played this month because of a lower-body injury.
Bobrovsky, one of the biggest disappointments in hockey last year, has quickly turned into a reason the Panthers have been one of the league’s biggest surprises this year.
Last year was the worst of Bobrovsky’s career as a full-time starter. His .900 save percentage was his worst since his second season and his 3.23 goals against average was the worst he ever put up, and it came just three years after he won his second Vezina Trophy with the Blue Jackets. Florida wanted him to repair its defense and instead he exacerbated its issues.
“Expectations were high, scrutiny high after signing a contract,” Quenneville said. “Expectations are different, and then getting comfortable with your teammates and the style that is played in front of you — that’s an adjustment.”
Talent always let Bobrovsky uncork an impressive performance, even as he struggled through last season. It’s the reason Quenneville never turned away from him as his primary option and the reason the Panthers went into 2021 with him still entrenched as the starter.
There are telltale signs Quenneville looks for to know his goalie is locked in, though, and, right now, Bobrovsky is displaying them.
“In this stretch, he’s showing more patience in his net,” Quenneville said. “He’s tracking the puck a little better. I think his rebound control has been efficient. It looks like he’s in control, so he’s finding pucks, he’s maybe out a little bit higher, as well. I think those are signs he’s comfortable and he’s tracking well, moving well, too.”
This story was originally published March 10, 2021 at 4:05 PM.
