SUNRISE, Fla. — Paul Maurice was strolling out of the rink one day when he peeked down the hallway and did a double-take.
There he saw Sergei Bobrovsky — the franchise’s prized starting goaltender and most expensive asset — performing Olympic weightlifting.
“He’s playing that night,” Maurice recalls, incredulous. “I don’t know what the hell he’s doing. But I don’t need an opinion on that.
“Sometimes you keep your eyes shut and keep moving.”
Speak to those who orbit the centred enigma that was first star of the Florida Panthers‘ 3-0 Game 1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers, and you’ll receive a smorgasbord of descriptors.
The man with the most pedestrian of nicknames — “Bob” — is anything but.
They call him “an old soul” and “peaceful.”
They describe him as “the hardest worker on the team” and “insane” and “unreal.”
“Best goalie in the world, in my opinion,” says Anton Lundell.
Let’s add Conn Smythe frontrunner and fan favourite and perfect… so far.
The “Bob-by!” chants from the Cats-lovers rang loud before, during, and after the 35-year-old Vezina finalist’s star turn Saturday night. Of the 32 stops on Bobrovsky’s clean sheet, plenty were quality. Such is the case when the club you bail out gets tripled up in high-danger chances (18-6) and must white-knuckle its way through three frightening Edmonton power plays.
Bobrovsky stoned Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on a breakaway. He denied 50-goal man Zach Hyman on the doorstep more than once. And he solved magic-makers Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on some bang-bang setups in tight.
“They outshot us, had a lot more chances than us,” admitted gamer Carter Verhaeghe, who scored the winner on the Panthers’ first shot of the game.
Bobrovsky handled things from there.
“The saves, I’m here for the God’s fame, not for myself. I am nothing without Him. I am just thankful for the opportunity, and I enjoy every second of it,” Bobrovsky said in his typical humble post-game tone.
“They are a great offensive team. They bring a good challenge, and it was a fun game.”
Maurice, a former KHL coach, once took a long walk with Bobrovsky in Vancouver. The men spoke very little about hockey. More about Russia and life. On the latter, Maurice believes his goalie’s perspective is more sophisticated than his own.
“If you could read a transcript of that conversation, you would think the other guy was 57 and I was 30ish,” Maurice says. “I don’t know that I’ve met someone like Sergei. And I bet I know 10 per cent of it.
“Sergei is an intelligent man, and a very focused man, and he has designed a program that allows him to be great at this point in his career.”
Most nights during these consecutive runs to the Cup Final, what boosts Bobrovsky to greatness is the supporting cast, the stingiest defensive side in hockey. As he has soared late in his $70-million contract that he and the organization once wore as an albatross, the team in front of him has improved.
They’re helping each other. But on Saturday, it was Bob doing all the heavy lifting, until Florida finally locked things up in a safe, smart third period.
Physically flexible but rigid in routine, Bobrovsky goes to school on every goal allowed and routinely hits the ice a full hour before his teammates so he can practise before practice.
When the results are this strong, the other Panthers don’t question the sometimes unorthodox methods the goalie employs to reach them.
“Let him do his thing,” smiles Brandon Montour. “He does it better than anyone.”
“He’s always doing different things where I’m like, ‘I don’t know how that’s gonna help.’ But it does, for him,” says Verhaeghe. The forward raised an eyebrow when he saw Bobrovsky walking on a wooden beam holding a pole, practising his balance.
Hey, do you.
“I’ve been around a lot of goalies, and no one likes it more when I shoot it hard and high than Bob. He loves it. He enjoys the challenge. Some goalies get upset and shoot it back at you. He loves it,” Verhaeghe goes on. “That’s kinda the beautiful thing about Bob… He’s not thinking about what everyone else is thinking about him.
“He wants to be the best in the world.”
Right now, considering the stakes, and the first-ever Stanley Cup lead in Panthers history, and that the scariest scorers in the sport haven’t so much as lit a lamp, it’s hard to find a goalie better than Bob.
“He’s earned it,” Maurice says. “He’s not casual about anything he does.”
Fox’s Fast Five
• Love the Stanley Cup Final intro montage…
• Sam Bennett appears to be on a mission to tick off McDavid.
• Amerant Bank Arena leads the NHL in Trick Daddy songs per 60. And we’re here for it.
• Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch dropped Evander Kane off Leon Draisaitl’s line mid-game and bumped up Corey Perry — the only man to appear in five Cup finals with five different teams — from the third line.
He needs to find more ice time for Mattias Ekholm (18:57) but prefers not to split his D pairs, and partner Evan Bouchard was busying soaking up power-play time and needed a breath.
• Elsewhere in the state of Florida…
The Panthers’ ECHL affiliate, the Everblades, completed a Kelly Cup three-peat.
Jake Maurice does play-by-play for the Everblades.
“My kid’s been in hockey two years. He has two rings,” Maurice said, beginning his podium by congratulating the farm team. “Possibly unbearable, it’s going to be at my house.”
