George Richards, FHN Publisher
Over the course of the past few seasons, Sergei Bobrovsky put his team on his back and carried them into the playoffs.
Bobrovsky did not get that opportunity with the Florida Panthers in 2020.
He will get the chance to shine starting Saturday against the New York Islanders.
The Panthers hope to get the ‘Big Game Bob’ who stoned the Tampa Bay Lightning as he helped the Columbus Blue Jackets to a stunning sweep in the first round last spring.
That was Bobrovsky’s first — and only — postseason series win as a goalie.
He learned a lot about himself in that series, he says, and the Panthers could use that game of his Saturday when their Stanley Cup qualifier against the Islanders starts in Toronto.
“It’s a different season, everything is different,” said Bobrovsky, who left Columbus last July to sign a seven-year, $70 million deal with the Panthers.
“There is some experience (from last year’s playoffs), and I know a little bit more about myself, about my potential. This is a whole new (brand) of hockey. It is going to be a very interesting challenge. The Islanders have a great team and it is going to be exciting games.”
Bobrovsky, who was given the largest free agent contract in franchise history, did not exactly inspire a whole lot of confidence in his game coming off of a four month absence.
On Wednesday, playing for the first time in almost five months, Bobrovsky and the Panthers lost 5-0 to the Lightning in an exhibition warmup.
The Lightning got two goals from Brayden Point in the second half of the first period and had a four goal lead on Florida with just under six minutes gone in the second.
Bobrovsky appeared to find his footing as the game went on as he continued to battle despite the lopsided score.
Staying in to play the whole game, he said Thursday, was important to “feel the pace of the game again, to get into the rhythm.”
Before Wednesday, Bobrovsky had not played in an organized game since losing to the Blackhawks in Sunrise on Feb. 29.
“I felt better as the game went on,” he said. “After they scored four goals and it was the second period, I felt better and better each moment. I started to read the game better. It is good that was an exhibition game. I have to build up a lot more from that.”
The bottom line is, the Panthers will need much more production out of such a key position when they open their Stanley Cup qualifier Saturday against the New York Islanders.
“We just want him to be consistent, comfortable in the net, moving and finding pucks, and — being Bob,’’ coach Joel Quenneville said.
“I thought (Wednesday) he was a lot more composed. It has been a long time since he has been in the net. He got better as the game went on; he looked bigger as the game went on. I thought he had a really good camp.”
HELP WANTED
Of course, Bobrovsky is going to need some help from the players in front of him.
On Wednesday, it was not there as was the case for much of his first season with the Panthers.
The Panthers’ defensive game, which they seemed to find n March, was not there on Wednesday. Florida has a lot to shore up in the coming days.
“Coming down the stretch … they had improved substantially from where they were at the start of the season,” former NHL goalie Kevin Weekes, now an analyst with NHL Network, told the Panthers Pressbox Podcast.
“They were tighter, they were more positionally sound, they weren’t chasing as much and they were protecting the middle of the ice much more consistently. Then the pause happened and it really sapped them because they were playing so well. …
“[Wednesday] they defaulted back to when there were more inconsistent. You saw opportunities in the middle of the ice, you saw the 2-on-1s, the coverage was not where it needed to be. They allowed a lot of key opportunities. Against Tampa Bay, with their skill, that’ll kill you.”
PUTTING THE PAST BEHIND
Bobrovsky says he is ready to put what was a disappointing first season with the Panthers behind him.
Bobrovsky did not have the type of season the Panthers envisioned when they pulled him off the free agency market last summer with that big ticket contract.
Although Bobrovsky played better than his numbers appear, he has admitted they don’t look very good on paper.
In 50 games this season, Bobrovsky ended up 23-19-6. His goals-against average of 3.23 ranks is outside the top 60 in the league and is the highest of his career.
The only other time Bobrovsky ended a season — and, this one was interrupted — with a GAA above 3 came in his second season with the Flyers when he had a 3.02.
Bobrovsky’s .900 save percentage ranks outside the top 50 and is, again, the lowest of his career save for that 2011-12 season with the Flyers.
In goals-saved above average, Bobrovsky ranks near the bottom the league with a minus-14.91.
Last year in Columbus, he had a plus-5.23 and ranked 23rd; in 2017-18, his 16.92 GSAA ranked seventh — just below Roberto Luongo.
“The numbers were not there,” Bobrovsky said in March. “It was not an easy season for me with a new team, new coach, new surroundings. Everything was new.
“As far as the team standpoint, we were playing for the playoffs and were three points behind. We were right in the mix and it was in our hands. The most important thing is team success and we had the chance to make the playoffs and that is the most important thing for me.”
This definitely appears to have been a season of transition for Bobrovsky.
Aside from moving to Florida and playing under the high expectations his contract brought, the Panthers’ defensive play was much more porous than he was used to in Columbus where the Jackets’ forwards play a very responsible game.
In Florida, Bobrovsky and the way the Panthers played — at least on a consistent basis — never completely meshed. They can change that now, although the Panthers did not show that side of their game against the Lightning.
“The players have to buy in and I am not trying to completely absolve Bob,’’ Weekes said.
“But Bob is good enough to steal games. You win two Vezinas, you can steal games. In a five-game series, can you expect your goalie to steal them all? No chance. But he can steal one or two. Will they need him to? That’s likely.”
GETTING BACK AT IT
Over the past few months, with the NHL on hiatus, Bobrovsky said he was able to work more on the mental side of the game while staying in top physical shape.
Bobrovsky missed the final four games of the Panthers’ season with what is thought to be a groin injury. The months off should have helped.
“I was able to take time to rest,’’ Bobrovsky said at the start of training camp.
“I was able to get some time for training, some good training. I feel I’m in good shape physically and mentally and I’m excited about this opportunity.”
That said, Bobrovsky has been a slow starter the past two seasons.
This year, for instance, he made 88 percent of his saves in the first two months of the season. Bobrovsky ended November on the bench after giving up four goals on 20 shots in a 4-3 loss to the Capitals the night before Thanksgiving in Washington.
In his final season with the Blue Jackets, Bobrovsky opened with an .882 save percentage.
The season before, he opened with a 5-0 shutout of the Islanders and ended October with a .934 save percentage. The Panthers need that kind of a start come Saturday.
In the past, Bobrovsky has been able to work his game in as a season went along. He does not have that luxury after what turned into a extended offseason due to the coronavirus.
When the puck drops Saturday afternoon, the Panthers’ season is on the line.
GOALIE BATTLE
The Panthers-Islanders series may hinge on the performance of their goalies.
Bobrovsky is the guy for Florida make no doubt about that.
“Goaltending is, do your thing and move on to the next shot, next challenge,’’ Quenneville said. “He is a battler and I like his approach to getting back to playing. We know the importance of goaltending and we’re expecting him to do his thing.”
Last year, Bobrovsky was outstanding in leading the Jackets to a most-surprising sweep of the top-seeded Lightning, stopping 93 percent of shots faced with a 2.01 GAA.
Even last July, when Bobrovsky signed with the Panthers, he made sure everyone knew he wasn’t the only reason Columbus swept Tampa Bay.
How the Jackets played as a whole was the reason.
“It was fun, definitely, but it was not just me but our whole team contributed to that,” Bobrovsky said.
“The coaches, all of the guys in the locker room, all four lines. In the playoffs, you have to have all four lines going, you have to have good coaches who will adjust accordingly as the games go on. You have to have the right pieces in the right places.”
New York coach Barry Trotz has not announced his starter for Game 1, saying he has so much confidence in both Semyon Varlamov and Thomas Greiss, he could throw a dart at their names and be OK.
“My goaltending with Varly and Greiss … we’re pretty set,” Trotz said after Varlamov pitched two shutout periods Wednesday in the Isles’ exhibition win over the Rangers.
“The schedule is not normal, we have a back-to-back (in Games 2-3) and I have the luxury of playing both of them. And, I have the luxury of starting either of them in Game 1.
In Varlamov, the Islanders have a strong goalie who has connections to Bobrovsky — and the Panthers.
Interestingly enough, the Panthers had interest in signing Varlamov last summer had they been spurned by Bobrovsky — who, was also being courted heavily by the Islanders.
The two goalies have played together on the Russian Olympic team in 2014 and also share the same agent (who also represents Weekes).
Trotz said he would look at how both Varlamov and Greiss have done against the Panthers in the past.
Griess, of course, shut down the Panthers in the 2016 playoffs, giving up 13 goals on 207 shots faced the Islanders topped Florida in six games.
Of New York’s three wins against Florida this season, Greiss has two of them giving up just two goals on 71 shots.
In Games 5 and 6 of that series, Greiss gave up a total of two goals on 90 shots as the Islanders won both in double overtime.
Sasha Barkov had a chance to win Game 5 in OT but was stopped on a penalty shot.
“They are both goalies so we’re not thinking about that, just how we’re going to play and how we’re gong to match their game,’’ said Barkov, one of four current Florida players who are still around (Huberdeau, Aaron Ekblad and Mike Matheson) from that series four years ago.
“It is all about us, our players and our coaches. This is up to us to go out and do it. It doesn’t matter who we play against.”
BOB VERSUS THE ISLES
Games played vs. New York: 27
Record: 16-10-0 (2.18 GAA, .928 SV%, 3 SO)
This season: 0-2-0 (2.05 GAA, .938 SV%)
Playoff record with Philadelphia, Columbus: 11-18 (3.14 GAA, .902 SV%)
Last playoff appearance: 2019 (swept Tampa Bay, lost to Boston in semifinals)
VARLAMOV VS. THE PANTHERS
Games played vs. Florida: 12
Record: 8-3-1 (2.65 GAA, .922 SV%)
This season: 1-0-0 (1.86 GAA, .946 SV%)
Playoff record with Washington, Colorado: 13-13 (2.57 GAA, .915 SV%)
Last playoff appearance: 2014 (lost to Minnesota in opening round)
GREISS VS. THE PANTHERS
Regular season games played vs. Florida: 8
Record: 5-2-1 (2.10 GAA, .930 SV%)
This season: 2-0-0 (1.00 GAA, .972 SV%)
2016 playoffs v. Florida: 4-2 (1.79 GAA, .944 SV%)
Playoff record with San Jose, Islanders: 5-6 (2.52 GAA, .920 SV%)
Last playoff appearance: 1 game of relief in 2019