Sergei Bobrovsky on Saturday turned the puck over on the first shift and recovered. He lost his stick for 30 seconds at one point and still made saves. Connor McDavid put six shots on net, and none of them went in.
Bobrovsky put on a master class against McDavid and every other player who dared test him, while his teammates pounced when given the chance. As a result, the Florida Panthers are off and rolling in the Stanley Cup Final.
With the goalie everyone simply calls “Bob” unbeatable in stopping all 32 shots he faced from every angle and in every situation in one of the most memorable playoff goaltending performances in recent history and thanks to goals from Carter Verhaeghe and Evan Rodrigues, the Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-0 in Game 1 of the NHL’s best-of-seven championship series.
Photo: Jim Rassol-USA TODAY
“It’s fun to play those guys, those elite guys and it’s a fun atmosphere,” Bobrovsky said. “I am just alive for the opportunity, and I enjoy every second of it.”
Chants of “Bobby” repeated as Bobrovsky turned aside multiple breakaways, stopped McDavid when the reigning and three-time Most Valuable Player went into turbo mode and flew all around and outside the crease to make Florida’s net an impenetrable fortress.
Bobrovsky, a two-time Vezina Trophy winner for his stellar regular-season play registered his second shutout of this run and third in the playoffs over his 14-year career. Thanks to him, the Panthers have a lead in the Cup final for the first time in franchise history and are three wins away from hoisting hockey’s hallowed trophy for the first time.
It did not even matter that they were outshot 32-18.
Back in the final for a second consecutive season and healthier and more prepared for the moment than in the five-game loss to the Vegas Golden Knights a year ago, Florida showed that experience on this stage does matter, handling pressure and tense moments throughout like most of its players have been here before.
“We kind of know what it takes this year,” Verhaeghe said. “We know how challenging it is, the ups and downs of playoffs and the grind of it. I think that makes us more equipped this year.”
The goals by Verhaeghe and Rodrigues came on the first five shots on net against Edmonton’s Stuart Skinner, who was left out to dry by a slow backcheck and a lost race to the puck.
Skinner, who has had his ups and downs this post-season and whose play looked like the biggest question in the series, was hardly to blame for either one.
“Lots to like,” McDavid said. “We didn’t give up too much, [but] what we did give up was dangerous.”
Edmonton controlled much of the game five on five, extended its streak of penalties killed to 30, and its power play did just about everything right except score.
Despite all that, the Oilers find themselves trailing in this core group led by McDavid and Leon Draisaitl’s first appearance in the final.
“We know that we’re going to have to get even better,” coach Kris Knoblauch said. “There are things we’re going to have to look at and try to increase those chances.”
This year’s series features the furthest distance between teams meeting for the Cup, eclipsing the previous record set in 2011 by the Boston Bruins and the Vancouver Canucks.
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