SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — The loudest cheers among Florida Panthers fans at Amerant Bank Arena are always for Sergei Bobrovsky.
Pregame warmups. Jumbotron appearances. Each and every save. Florida fans know how important the veteran goaltender is to their team.
So do the Panthers.
It’s why Florida never appeared rattled during its third straight Stanley Cup Final run. The defending champion Panthers remained even-keeled, never looking too far ahead, and certainly not harping on the past — mirroring the attitude of their unflappable, two-time Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender.
And Bobrovsky has rewarded their trust in him with a brilliant showing in this year’s playoffs, which he stamped with a 28-save effort Tuesday in Florida’s 5-1 romp over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 to win their second straight title.
He stopped 192 of 209 shots on goal in the final and allowed 17 goals. He nearly had his fourth shutout of the postseason before Vasily Podkolzin broke up that bid with the Oilers’ only goal Tuesday with just 4:39 left.
With Tuesday’s win, Bobrovsky moved to 13-8 in 22 series-clinching games in his career, tying Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy (13-9) for the most among active goaltenders.
He was even more dominant than last year’s title run, when he was again a key piece in Florida’s success with a .906 save percentage.
Ask Florida’s veteran goaltender what he thinks of his success and he will likely sum it up in a few words. He’ll express his gratitude and talk about how great it is to play the game he loves. Then he will deflect the attention to his teammates.
That’s who he’s been since he took the starting job three games into the first round in 2023 and what the Panthers have come to appreciate about him. He’s been the calming presence in their locker room amid all kinds of chaos during this dominant three-year run.
His focus is always on what it takes to win and his credit always goes to the ones around him.
That simple approach has worked for him.
Going back to the 2023 playoffs, no goalie has more wins, saves or shutouts than Bobrovsky. He’s the second-oldest goaltender in the last decade with a playoff shutout.
Entering Tuesday, only three other goalies since 1981-82 had won the Vezina Trophy twice and hoisted the Stanley Cup trophy multiple times.
Bobrovsky joined that group on Tuesday.
The others?
They’re all Hall of Famers.
___
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Alanis Thames, The Associated Press
