He laughs well who laughs last, as the saying goes.
At 34, Sergei Bobrovsky is disproving all those who have doubted him in recent years. The goalkeeper was still smoking on Monday to allow the Florida Panthers to win 1-0. At the same time, they took a more-so-surprising 3-0 lead in their semi-final series against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Bobrovsky’s name has been on everyone’s lips for a few days. This same Bobrovsky who, at the very beginning of the playoffs, watched the games from the end of the Panthers bench. Coming in relief to Alex Lyon in the third duel of the first round, the Russian goalkeeper never lost his net again. Since then, the matches have followed one another and the goalkeeper is always straight as an oak tree.
Disarmingly calm.
Absolute control.
In the first period, on Monday, he extinguished the fires one by one. If the Panthers directed more pucks to the net in the first 20 minutes, those of the Canes were much more threatening. Sebastian Aho, best player – by far – in the Hurricanes, tried everything to unravel the Bobrovsky mystery.
Aho notably served Stefan Noesen with a breakaway on a silver platter midway through the first period; Bobrovsky got the mitt out without much effort. Earlier, the guardian had pulled out the harpoon to prevent Aho from maneuvering in front of him.
PHOTO WILFREDO LEE, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Anthony Duclair (10) and Sebastian Aho (20)
The 25-year-old center was not at the end of his misfortunes; he was frustrated again in the second frame, when Bobrovsky blocked his shot from the tip of the shield.
Rod Brind’Amour’s men were outrageously dominant midway through the second period, when Brady Skjei was sent off for a stick. The Panthers took only eight seconds to erase their poor first half; Sam Reinhart accepted a pass from Matthew Tkachuk and sent the puck over Frederik Andersen’s right shoulder. This was the sole purpose of the meeting.
From period to period, the Panthers have been less and less formidable offensively; quite the opposite of the Hurricanes, who have come up against Bobrovsky 32 times without ever solving the enigma. The latter collected his first career playoff shutout. Not once in the last eight games has he allowed more than two goals. Not bad, for a goalie who has never been good in the playoffs…
Of fuel
Still, every goalkeeper has a flaw. And Bobrovsky, as good as he is right now, is no exception. The task of finding his belongs to the best elements of the Hurricanes.
Sebastian Aho, Brett Pesce and Jaccob Slavin all shot five times on Monday night without ever scoring. It must also be said that the Panthers players blocked 23 opposing shots.
In the ray of numbers that do not lie, there is this one: about 350 minutes of play have passed since the last goal at five against five by a Carolina forward. A dry breakdown, you say?
The Canes will have to find a solution sooner rather than later. And by “early”, we mean from the next match. Otherwise, they can take out the golf bags.
As for the Panthers, things could get a little complicated in the next game. Aleksander Barkov, the club’s third point scorer in the playoffs, injured his lower body in the first period and did not return to the game. His absence, if prolonged, could be costly for Floridians…
Although, with a 3-0 lead and a .935 save percentage, there’s nothing to worry about in the least.
Up: Sam Reinhart
In addition to scoring the only goal of the game, he blocked three shots and gave out two checks in the victory.
Down: Martin Necas
Despite his 19 minutes of playing time, we saw him little offensively.
The number of the match: 6
This is the number of hits distributed by Radko Gudas. That makes him 21 in three games.