Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Sergei Bobrovsky is the soul-destroying centerpiece of the Panthers run to the Cup.
Sergei Bobrovsky hasn’t simply been a goalie, a shot-blocker, or a last-line of defense. He’s become an all-encompassing black hole that swallows all light and hope, swatting away dreams with his pads or causing them to vanish in an instant, engulfed by the mystic qualities of his glove.
For all the pomp and circumstance when Matthew Tkachuk joined the Panthers, it’s Bob who has the Florida Panthers on the verge of the Stanley Cup Finals. Up 3-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Hurricanes have an answer for everything the Panthers are able to put on the ice — except for Bob. This is a heater in net unlike anything we’ve seen in years, and now the team’s entire game plan revolves around causing as much frustration as possible, and waiting for opponents to self-destruct.
This happened with perfect efficiency on Tuesday night. With just over 14 minutes left in Game 3, Martin Necas, who has emerged as one of Carolina’s most reliable goal-scorers, found himself in the slot with a perfect angle — a moment he’s had dozens of times in 2022-23, routinely slotting the puck home with efficiency. Staring down Bob, he froze, shifting the puck around, over-thinking his shot and becoming consumed by the goalie’s darkness. Easy pickings for a defensemen to come in, disrupt the shot, and ruin another Canes opportunity.
Bobrovsky has allowed a mind-boggling three goals on 135 save attempts in the Eastern Conference Finals. His GAA this series is an impossible 0.69. He’s stopped over 60 shots in a row, and nothing Carolina throws at him can find the back of the net. Those numbers aren’t just stunning on paper, because it’s not just that he’s making these saves, it’s how he’s making them. Bob is moving with a sixth sense and stopping everything, even shots any goalie would be forgiven for letting in.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice deserves an incredible amount of credit for harvesting and channeling his goalie’s heater. The entire Florida game plan now revolves around the dump and chase, waiting for the Hurricanes to over-extend out of frustration and then punishing on the counter. It doesn’t matter that Florida only shot 17 times, as long as one finds the net — because the volume of the Hurricanes offense is having absolutely no effect.
The defense has found ways of making Bobrovsky’s life as easy as possible, with Florida’s defensemen closing off every possible passing lane to take away any quality shots. It means that despite the Hurricanes’ volume shooting, none of it is productive, and when paired with a wall in the net it’s causing Carolina’s players to lose it.
There’s more than one factor to all this. The Hurricanes are desperately missing their scoring punch for the first time in the playoffs with Max Pacioretty and Andrei Svechnikov both injured. However, injuries alone can’t take away what Florida has done this postseason. The Panthers have settled into gleefully playing the most grinding and infuriating style imaginable, and they’re winning the psychological battle as well as one the ice.
It’s impossible to see how anyone left in the Stanley Cup Playoffs can deal with Florida’s wall. All you can do is throw pucks at it and hope to find a weak point, but three games into the Easter Conference Final there’s no weakness to be found.
