‘It’s Bob’s time’: Panthers plan to lean on Sergei Bobrovsky for late-season playoff push
It was another lost night for the Florida Panthers and Sergei Bobrovsky, Paul Maurice could tell, was angry.
This was more than two months ago and the Panthers were in the middle of their worst stretch of the year. Bobrovsky replaced Spencer Knight in net after less than 22 minutes and couldn’t really do anything for Florida, which was on its way to a seventh loss in 10 games, in the middle of a stretch with 13 losses in 16 games going into Christmas.
Bobrovsky’s own run was rough, too. His save percentage was worse than .880 and Knight, 21, was the one in goal most nights, winning the trust of his new coach early on.
“He looked aggressive, maybe a little bit angry about the way things were going,” coach Paul Maurice said, reflecting back on a quietly important night for Bobrovsky against the Winnipeg Jets late last year. “He got back to that compete.”
The star goaltender saved 16 of the 17 shots he faced from the Jets and suddenly the net was his once again. He started the next six games and has now started 19 of Florida’s last 28 despite missing six straight with an injury to end January.
Since taking over for Knight in Winnipeg, Bobrovsky, 34, has a .919 save percentage and 2.64 goals against average. He even became only the 25th goalie in NHL history to win 350 games Thursday when he helped lead a 4-1 win against the San Jose Sharks at FLA Live Arena and is now only three wins away from matching the league record for wins by a Russian goalie.
The goal will almost certainly be his again Saturday when the Panthers host the defending-champion Colorado Avalanche at 6 p.m. to close out a five-game homestand in Sunrise and it’s exactly what Maurice wants.
“The idea would be we would come out of the break and somebody would grab the ball and go with it,” the first-year coach said. “It’s Bob’s time now to get that opportunity.”
In two games since the All-Star break, he has played well enough to earn it. He stopped 32 of 33 shots in a rout of the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday, then 33 of 34 from the Sharks, including three on the penalty kill in the final five minutes when Florida was still nursing a one-goal lead.
As these Panthers (26-22-4) are designed, high-level goaltending is close to a necessity to compete at the highest level — it’s what happens when a franchise decides to spend more than 10 percent of its salary on one goalie — and Florida’s 2023 turnaround has coincided with Bobrovsky’s best stretch of the season.
Since a loss to the New York Rangers on New Year’s Day, the Panthers have won 10 of 16 — with two losses coming in overtime — and could be even better had injuries not forced third-string goaltender Alex Lyon to make six straight starts, losing half of them in a valiant 10-day stretch last month.
In the same period of time, Bobrovsky has won 6 of 8, posted a .925 save percentage, and stabilized a defense left undermanned by an offseason trade of star defenseman MacKenzie Weegar and cap constraints tracing back to a buyout of former defenseman Keith Yandle.
“He’s so solid back there,” forward Sam Reinhart said Thursday. “It’s nights like these that make you feel lucky to have him.”
These last two starts came after a 20-day break, due to injury and an eight-day lay-off around the 2023 NHL All-Star Game. Florida was intentionally cautious with Bobrovsky ahead of the break, knowing the extended rest could be useful if the two-time All-Star was going to take full command of the position.
Any concerns about the opposite — the possibility he’d lose whatever rhythm he found in January — have been quelled this week.
“It’s important. As a goalie, your mind has to be free because you can’t control your action,” Bobrovsky said Monday. “It was a good decision, definitely, and I felt ready to go. I felt good.”
The Panthers will be at most three points out of a postseason spot when they face the Avalanche (27-19-4) this weekend, but, with only 28 games remaining, there’s still little margin for error. When Bobrovsky is at his best, he can singlehandedly steal victories, even from the best teams in the league, like Colorado.
For most of the last month, Florida has seen the best of Bobrovsky. Now, the Panthers are going to trust he can keep it going for the rest of the season.
“He’s reading the play very, very quickly,” Maurice said. “The best I can say: It looks like he completely trusts himself in the net. He’s not second-guessing, he’s not trying to find the puck. He’s on it, he’s across it and when he’s across he’s square to the puck. He looks like a veteran goaltender who’s back to his game and he’s just trusting the way he moves in the net.
“The rest was good for him. He’s back to 100 percent. ... We think he’s in a good position to run.”
This story was originally published February 10, 2023 at 10:07 AM.
