The Florida Panthers are in the Conference Finals for the first time in 27 years, and a big part of that has been the play of goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. Since entering the series against the Boston Bruins in relief in Game 3, he’s been a saving grace for the Panthers, supporting them in a comeback series against the Bruins and then looking tough to beat against the superstars. of the Toronto Maple Leafs. . He has a solid .918 save percentage in the playoffs, but most impressive is his 8.62 5-on-5 goals recorded above expectations, which leads all remaining goaltenders by more than three goals.
Florida Panthers writer George Richards joined Tyler Yaremchuk and Frank Seravalli on Daily Faceoff Live to talk about how important Bobrovsky was to this Panthers team during their surprising run, and whether or not that will continue.
George Richard: We will find out! This is his first time in a conference final as a starting goaltender. The farthest he’s ever gone was the year Columbus surprisingly swept Tampa Bay in 2019, so that’s the farthest he’s ever gone, so we’re going to find out.
Florida is obviously playing pretty good defense in front of him, knocking out a few pucks, something they haven’t always done, so he’s getting a little more defensive support than he’s been used to in the past.
And he looks like a guy who’s just in the moment. We haven’t really seen that side of Sergei Bobrovsky, it’s just a bit different with him. He praised his teammates and said what a privilege it was to be here and all that, and then he comes out and he makes 45 saves, so he’s been great for them.
I don’t know what to say. His 10 goals saved above expectations he was just great especially in the Toronto series and he won Florida in the Boston series winning game 5 with 44 saves in a playoff game for the Panthers. So without Bob, the Panthers wouldn’t be here.
You can watch the full episode here…
