Sergei Bobrovsky Turns in Yet Another Dominant Performance in Game 7 vs. Maple Leafs
Sergei Bobrovsky allowed just four goals in the final four games of the Florida Panthers’ seven-game series against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
TORONTO — After allowing an uncharacteristic 13 goals in the first three games of the second round, Sergei Bobrovsky turned the series on its head and shut down the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Bobrovsky allowed just four goals in the final four games of Florida’s seven-game series victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs to help the Panthers advance to the Eastern Conference final for the third year in a row. That included 20 saves on 21 shots in the 6-1 series-clinching win in Game 7 on Sunday night.
The Maple Leafs did not register a shot attempt for the first 9:30 of the game — when William Nylander missed the net on a breakaway attempt — but once they found holes in Florida’s defenses, the ice tilted in the opposite direction.
After the Panthers held a 6-0 lead in shots in the first 11:34 of the game, the Maple Leafs ripped off seven shots to Florida’s one to close the period — and Bobrovsky stood strong and stopped them all.
“They did get a couple of breakaways early, and Bob closed the door,” Brad Marchand said. “After that, we were able to tighten it back up a bit and do the job defensively. That’s where that team is dangerous — they create breakaways, 2-on-1s and odd-man rushes out of nothing plays and we got caught a couple times early.
“Bob backed us up, and then after that, we did a good job of forcing everything up the wall and it allowed us to transition, so we executed well.”
Bobrovsky made multiple big saves on breakaways from Scott Laughton and Steven Lorentz to get the Panthers out of the first period with the 0-0 score intact.
“Yeah, we don’t question Bob,” Anton Lundell said. “He just does his thing and whatever he does, it works for him. He’s our wall, he’s our guy we trust and it’s always fun to play for him. We try to make it as easy as we can for him, but today, he made some big saves to keep us in the game in the first.”
After that, Florida quickly got back to the game it started the first period with and ripped off three goals in a 6:24 span early in the middle frame to grab a lead it would never relinquish.
It was a stop-and-start type of night for Bobrovsky, but he was sharp while dealing with it — only giving up one goal off of a quick snap shot through his five-hole to Max Domi 2:07 into the third period.
Eetu Luostarinen scored 47 seconds later to make that goal irrelevant, and the only thing the Panthers had to worry about from there was dodging the jerseys and beer cans that the Scotiabank Arena faithful was throwing on the ice.
Bobrovsky enters his third-straight Eastern Conference final appearance riding high, boasting a 3-1 record with a .957 save percentage and a 1.01 goals-against average since shutting the Maple Leafs out in Game 4.
“I try not to think much,” Bobrovsky said. “I just try to be in the game and see what’s coming, because they got quick forwards that hide behind the defense. I have to be aware of that and prepare for those moments.”