He backstopped the Florida Panthers to the final by winning 11 of his last 12 games and stopping 438 of 465 shots in that span, for a 1.95 goals-against average and .942 save percentage. In two losses to the Vegas Golden Knights before being pulled midway through Game 2 Monday night, Bobrovsky has allowed eight goals in just under 87 minutes of action for a 5.52 GAA and .826 save percentage.
Despite all that, and because of everything he did to get Florida through the Eastern Conference playoffs, coach Paul Maurice is expressing plenty of confidence in “Bob” moving forward into Game 3 on Thursday.
“He was very, very good in Game 1,” Maurice said Tuesday before the teams flew from Las Vegas to Florida. “I thought Sergei was like our team (in Game 2): I thought we were just slightly off. We didn’t give him a chance. He didn’t, maybe, quiet the game early for us when we needed it quieted by the goaltender, but I’ve got complete faith in what he’ll be able to do in Game 3.”
Maurice took Bobrovsky out in favor of Alex Lyon after allowing four goals on 13 shots in what turned into a 7-2 Game 2 loss that put Florida into a 2-0 hole in the best-of-seven series. He said afterward he’d “sweat” his goalie decision until later in the week — but also praised Bobrovsky for being unbelievable all playoffs and adding that the hook was done to give the 34-year-old veteran some rest.
Somehow the Panthers haven’t caught on to any of this. And they still might have been OK if Sergei Bobrovsky hadn’t plummeted back to Earth with a dinosaur-killing thud. He gave up three goals on three shots on either side of the first intermission. He had a save percentage of .692 in Game 2, which pairs nicely with the .879 from Game 1. While this will be treated as a major turn of events, Bobrovsky doesn’t have a track record of playoff heroism, whatever his paycheck might suggest. He has the one series in 2019 against the Lightning, and has more often been awful than good in the postseason (career .908). He’s been brilliant this spring, but this was never too far under the surface, and he’d better bury it again if the Cats have a prayer in this series.
None of that stopped the Panthers from engaging in the biggest bullshit of hockey bullshit, message-sending when you’ve already got your ass kicked. They racked up 84 minutes in penalties, with Matthew Tkachuk racking up 22 himself, so far just about his only contribution to the series.
FanDuel: Golden Knights 5, Panthers 3
Devon Platana writes: “I expect a stronger effort from the Panthers in front of their home crowd, but the Golden Knights have been too dominant to doubt. Even if Florida slows down the likes of Marchessault and Howden, names like Jack Eichel, Mark Stone and William Karlsson are more than capable of stepping up at big moments. Unfortunately for the Panthers, it looks like they’ll be down 0-3 when the dust settles on Thursday.”
Play Picks: Take the Golden Knights with the points in Game 3 vs. Panthers
It writes: “The Panthers have a 36-31 record when favored on the moneyline this season. Based on this contest’s moneyline, the Panthers’ implied win probability is 55.0%. This season the Golden Knights have been an underdog 36 times, and won 22, or 61.1%, of those games. Oddsmakers have implied, given the moneyline set for this matchup, that the Golden Knights have a 49.8% chance to win.”
Why is the Florida panther endangered?
Florida panthers face a lot of serious threats, and most of them can be traced back to habitat loss and fragmentation. Urban sprawl, converting diverse agricultural land to monocultures or residential and commercial development, and new roads and highways that make it difficult for Florida panthers to find enough territory, prey, and mates. Even pollution, disease, and their lingering genetic abnormalities are tied to habitat loss and fragmentation.
Florida panthers used to be plentiful in Florida and across the southeastern United States. In the early 1800s, they were thought to be a threat to livestock and game animals, so officials placed a bounty on them. They were hunted almost to extinction by the 1950s.
Las Vegas, which has outscored the Panthers 4-0 on power plays, has tied the Stanley Cup Final record for most goals through the first two games of the series with 12.
“The parts of our game that we know where we can improve we’re gonna have to get to real fast, there’s no doubt about that,” Maurice told reporters. “We’ll have a pretty simple game plan. I don’t think it’s about scoring goals in this series, cause I think it’s about defending the rush, and we weren’t great at that tonight.”
The Golden Knights, in just their sixth year of existence, are now two victories away from winning their first Stanley Cup.
The Panthers, who last hosted the Final in 1996 when they were swept by the Colorado Avalanche, return home seeking the franchise’s first victory in a Stanley Cup Final game. Game 3 is set for Thursday and Game 4 is Saturday, with each starting at 8 p.m. ET.
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