Panthers’ Sergei Bobrovsky ‘in a good place’ as he tries to keep his focus on hockey
The number of saves Sergei Bobrovsky had to make in the Florida Panthers’ 3-0 win over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday might not necessarily turn heads. The 18 shots against him were tied for the fewest he faced in any of the 36 shutouts in his NHL career.
The difficulties of those shots — and the difficulty of the moment — are another story all together.
Bobrovsky was coming off back-to-back subpar performances. He allowed nine combined goals in losses to the Nashville Predators and Edmonton Oilers earlier this homestand.
Personally, his mind is on bigger topics than hockey, too. Bobrovsky is from Novokuznetsk, Russia, a city about 2,300 miles east of Moscow. The war that began when Russia invaded Ukraine is now in its second week.
Bobrovsky has not spoken to local media since the Panthers’ five-game homestand began, but Panthers interim coach Andrew Brunette said he is talking with Bobrovsky regularly to find out how he’s handling news from home.
“His mind is in a good place,” Brunette said. “Obviously, there is a lot going on but, in our conversations, he has been trying to focus on hockey and is kind of sad about all the events that are happening.
“We will keep in contact and make sure we are there for him and are understanding of that situation.”
On the hockey front, Bobrovsky showed a needed return to form on Thursday.
His second shutout of the season helped Florida snap a three-game losing streak and improved him to 27-6-3 on the season. He’ll be back in net Saturday when Florida finishes its homestand with a 6 p.m. game against the Detroit Red Wings at FLA Live Arena.
Eight of Ottawa’s scoring opportunities were considered high-danger chances. The first three shots Bobrovsky faced were off a pair of breakaways midway through the first period while the Panthers were on the power play. According to the advanced statistics website Natural Stat Trick, the Senators had an expected goals for rate of 2.81 on Thursday, meaning they would have been projected to score close to three goals based on their scoring chances.
Bobrovsky held them scoreless.
“He had the toughest job in the world,” Brunette said. “When you get no shots and then it’s a breakaway and another breakaway, to stay mentally focused, for me, I thought that was his greatest asset.”
The Panthers’ skaters in front of Bobrovsky did a good job of limiting the Senators’ opportunities. Ottawa had no more than seven shots on goal in a single period.
“He made outstanding saves,” Brunette said. “We put him in a little bit of unpromising positions there a few times on the breakaways, but he stood up to the challenge.”
And the Panthers, for the time being, will need him to keep standing up to the challenge.
With Florida dealing with a roster crunch until rosters expand following the March 21 trade deadline, Brunette’s goaltender options for the time being are Bobrovksy and backup Jonas Johannson, the latter of whom has played in one game since being claimed off waivers. Spencer Knight, the ballyhooed 20-year-old rookie, has been with Florida’s AHL affiliate Charlotte Checkers since the end of January. He has played in eight games in that span, posting a pair of shutouts but also having three games in which he allowed four goals.
“We’re paying attention to where he’s at,” Brunette said of Knight. “We’ll see how he does. ... I would think he’ll probably be back at some point soon and probably play in a game in the next couple of weeks or so. I don’t know the exact plan. It changes. It’s pretty fluid.”
So for now, it will remain Bobrovsky’s net.
“He was steady,” defenseman Brandon Montour said. “He’s been steady all year. He’s our backbone.”
This story was originally published March 4, 2022 at 1:18 PM.
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