Florida Panthers Trust Sergei Bobrovsky With Immediate Future; And He Delivers
The Florida Panthers put all of their faith in the immediate future of Sergei Bobrovsky with the trade of Spencer Knight; and he delivered in a 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
SUNRISE, Fla — Two days after the Florida Panthers put all their chips in the immediate future on Sergei Bobrovksy, the 36-year-old netminder delivered in a 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Bobrovsky stopped 27 of the 28 shots he faced, including a game-saving stop on a shorthanded breakaway from Ryan McDonagh with 2:37 to go, to lead the Panthers to their ninth win in their past 11 games.
“He had so much time. He started pretty early,” Bobrovsky said of the save. “I was able to set up and it was a really timely save.”
Florida committed its full confidence in Bobrovsky being able to sustain that level of play when it shipped off goalie-of-the-future Spencer Knight along with a first-round pick to bolster its blue line on Saturday night.
All thoughts of a succession plan to the 23-year-old phenom within the next two years as Bobrovsky heads into his late 30s was thrown out the window in exchange for a better chance at a Stanley Cup now.
Bobrovsky obviously delivered Florida a Stanley Cup last season and has turned it on after an up-and-down start to the 2024-25 campaign.
Going into Monday night’s start against Tampa Bay, he was 7-2-0 with a .935 save percentage and a 1.68 goals against average and two shutouts in his past nine starts. He followed up Saturday night’s 23-save shutout of the Calgary Flames with another clutch performance against a division rival.
“He was unreal again,” Niko Mikkola said. “He has been unreal the last few weeks, more like all season. He made a nice save at the end. He gives us a chance to win every game.”
Bobrovsky was key in Florida’s victory over the Tampa Bay. He stopped all 11 shots he faced on the seven penalty kills the Panthers were tasked with. That included six shots against on two Lightning power plays in the first period.
That first-period performance on the penalty kill gave the Panthers some time to regroup before Aleksander Barkov scored two goals in the second period to put them ahead.
“I’ve heard it before — he is our best penalty killer,” Barkov said. “He’s done his job really well, and again, today, he did a really good job there. He gave us a chance and obviously we battled really hard in front of him as well.“
Bobrovsky’s lone blemish in the game came 2:07 into the third period. Brayden Point picked up his own rebound, drove in on goal, and beat him with a backhand shot for his 32nd goal of the season to draw the Lightning within a goal.
He was lights out after that, stopping the remaining 11 shots he faced in the third to close the game out.
Per Natural Stat Trick, Bobrovsky stopped four of the five high-danger shots he faced and added another 11 saves on medium-danger shots.
The Panthers leaned on him at times, and he delivered.
They are going to need more of that from him with the 23-year-old Knight now in Chicago, where he stopped 41 of 42 shots in a win over the Los Angeles Kings in his Blackhawks debut.
“I was shocked,” Bobrovsky said of the trade of his former battery mate. “I was shocked. We built a really good relationship. He’s a great kid and a great goalie. I wish him nothing but the best and I think he’s going to be great.”
As great as he can be, the Panthers trust that Bobrovsky can deliver them at least one more Stanley Cup before they have to think of a new line of succession.