Florida Panthers Lock It Down, Sergei Bobrovsky Locks It Up

COLUMBUS — Some fans of the Florida Panthers wish the team would open things up a little more, you know, score some goals or something.

Others, like coach Paul Maurice, is really happy with the way the Panthers are locking things down.

Put Sergei Bobrovsky in that crowd as well.

The Panthers are about a month away from starting the playoffs and the way they are playing these days are how they want to be playing in the postseason.

On Thursday night, the Panthers were back to being the kind of defensive team coaches like Maurice love to watch.

Florida limited Columbus — ranked 11th in the league in goals-for per game at 3.15 — to just 25 shots on goal in a 1-0 overtime win.

Elvis Merzlikins made 24 saves in the loss.

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“I like the fact that we’ve been able to play in tight games and I have been saying that for two months,” Maurice said.

Columbus’ average goals per game should be higher if not for the Panthers, and Bobrovsky in particular, as he has shut the Blue Jackets out twice in the past two weeks.

Barkov won it 29 seconds into overtime with a 4-on-3 power-play goal from the slot, but the big man in the Arena District was No. 72.

That has been the case a lot of times Bobrovsky has been in net here over the years.

“He was there for us the whole game, pretty much,’’ Barkov said. “It wasn’t our best game today, but it was for sure, one of his. He kept us in the game, gave us a chance, and we got it overtime.’’

With his 25-save performance, Bobrovsky became the first Florida goalie to shut out the same opponent in three straight starts dating back to last April.

Of Florida’s three wins agains the Blue Jackets this season, Bobrovsky got two of them; Spencer Knight won the one here back in October.

Bobrovsky, whom Maurice proclaimed as the future of the Panthers in goal days after the Knight-for-Seth Jones trade, has not allowed more than two goals in any of his seven starts this month.

He has three shutouts, including two against his former team, during that run.

Thursday, however, he worked for the win.

“It was a great game, a playoff-style game,” Bobrovsky said. “Our opponent played hard, played a good game. But we worked hard. We had a great focus, great concentration. We were together. We were tight and we just grinded it out. Big points for us.”

The Panthers had a real battle on their hands against a Columbus team which has seen its underdog playoff hopes fade in a big way since taking two straight from Detroit at the start of the month.

Columbus has just three points — it rolled the Rangers 7-3 back on March 9 — in its past eight (1-6-1) games.

Thursday snapped Florida’s two-game skid as it kept pace in the Atlantic.

The Panthers remain tied with Toronto (87 points) with both holding a two-point lead on the Lightning.

After the game, Maurice talked about the Panthers — despite their standing in the Eastern Conference — not officially being in the playoffs.

Florida has 13 games left, have some back-to-backs, and some injury concerns.

Maurice obviously mentioned that to his team.

The defending Stanley Cup champions are not taking anything for granted.

Although the Blue Jackets are playing for their playoff lives, the Panthers still have something to play for as well.

“We’re also in the battle,” Barkov said. “It’s not over for us, at all. We need to get there as well, we need to change the mindset a little bit. We need to win games as well and battle for the playoffs. I think it was we were desperate today. We wanted to win, and we got the win.

“We can be a lot better. They played really well, but we gave them too many chances, some breakaways, some high-end chances. Obviously, Bob was great in net. But I think we could be better.’’

ON DECK: GAME No. 70

FLORIDA PANTHERS at WASHINGTON CAPITALS

• When: Saturday, 5 p.m.
• Where: Capital One Arena, Washington
• Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FTL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
• Streaming: Panthers+, ESPN+
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
• This Season (Capitals Lead 2-0) — At Washington: Capitals 6, Panthers 3 (Feb. 4); Saturday. At Florida: Capitals 4 Panthers 1 (Nov. 25).
• Last Season: Panthers won 3-0
• All-time Regular Season Series: Washington leads 68-48-13, 9 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Sunday vs. Pittsburgh Penguins, 6 p.m.