Fight Night in Florida Panthers Game … With Sergei Bobrovsky?

SUNRISE — Sergei Bobrovsky has been run into during a couple recent Florida Panthers games and it appears he is done with it.

In the third period against the Penguins on Saturday, Bobrovsky was hit by Jason Zucker — sending the goalie sprawling to the ice as his mask went spinning to the wall.

Bobrovsky jumped off the ice and went after Zucker.

“I thought he threw the elbow on purpose and I didn’t like that. I thought it was a dirty play and I tried to get up and protect myself,” Bobrovsky said.

“I feel fine. At the very last second, I saw him in my peripheral vision where he kind of got his elbow up so I was able to shell myself up and protect myself.”

He did not get far as a bunch of other players got in, but Bobrovsky was in the midst of the fray along the half wall.

His teammates have rarely seen him like that before and they were fired up to come in and help him.

“I love seeing Bobby jump into the scrums,” Sam Bennett said.

“It shows his passion and we had five guys ready to jump in there right away, which is always great to see.”

With Spencer Knight currently unavailable, an injury to Bobrovsky would have very well ended Florida’s playoff hopes right then and there.

And the team was very aware when they jumped in to defend him.

“That’s a dangerous thing for our franchise right now,” head coach Paul Maurice said.

“We are fighting for those guys and Spencer is not here so we need Bob to do a big part of the heavy lifting from here on out so we are fortunate that he didn’t get hurt on that play.”

Zucker got hit with interference on a goaltender and the Panthers failed to score on the ensuing power play.

But it was fun.

After the fireworks were over, Bobrovsky was able to pick himself right back up and make nine more saves to help the Panthers secure the 4-1 victory.

“It doesn’t really matter,” he said. “It’s just a little flush and you get back to focus and get calm and ready to play.”

No idea how Bobrovsky’s still playing pic.twitter.com/t46ChThfZ5

— State of Hoppy (@StateOfHoppy) March 5, 2023

PANTHERS ON DECK

VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS AT FLORIDA PANTHERS

• When: Tuesday, 7 p.m.
• Where: FLA Live Arena, Sunrise
• TV/Streaming: Bally Sports Florida; ESPN+
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932
• This season (Vegas leads 1-0): Golden Knights 4, Panthers 2 (Jan. 12)
• Last season: Split 1-1
• All-time regular season series: Vegas leads 6-2-1
• Up Next for the Panthers: Friday vs. Chicago. 7 p.m.