Sergei Bobrovsky and the Florida Panthers are one win away from making National Hockey League history and winning the Stanley Cup for the first time ever. But it's the same position the franchise was in over a week ago, leading the Edmonton Oilers 3-0 in Round 4 and looking poised to bring a maiden championship to South Beach.
But the series has been completely turned on its head over the last eight days; the Oilers have won three straight, in the process lighting up a once rock-solid Bobrovsky. And if the Cats can't find a way to secure a victory on Monday night — in one of the biggest games in NHL history — they'll forever be on the wrong side of that history.
And the Russian netminder missing practice on Sunday certainly didn't provide any reassurance ahead of the monumental tilt at Amerant Bank Arena. But, the team has faith in the veteran.
“We certainly know that he's going to get really dialed in for us,” Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said on Sunday, per NHL.com's Tom Gulitti. “He has been for two years. It has been outstanding the way he prepares, his focus. We talked in the last few days, talked after Game 6, the players, about how we can get better. Now everybody's ready.”
After a phenomenal three rounds — and first three games of the Stanley Cup Final — Bobrovsky has had an impossible time shutting down the Oilers over Games 4-6. He's allowed 12 goals on 58 shots in that span, good enough for a ghastly 5.06 goals-against average and .793 save percentage.
He was pulled in the second period of an 8-1 shellacking in Game 4, and hasn't been the same since. And he'll need to be much better if the Panthers hope to beat an inspired Oilers team with all of the momentum heading in Game 7.
Panthers have 1 more chance to avoid all-time embarrassment
Despite a defeat at Rogers Place in Game 6, Paul Maurice was encouraged by the play of his netminder — despite the middling results on paper.
“I thought he was strong and solid,” said the bench boss, per Gulitti. “Now, we were kind to him, and we didn’t give up a short-handed breakaway to start the game. I thought that was good of us. We cut down on those for him and gave him a chance. We’re going to try that again tomorrow, but I thought he looked good.”
Bobrovsky will need to do more than just look good if the Panthers hope to win, though. He needs to find the form that led to a shutout in Game 1, and just four total goals allowed in the first three games of the series.
The Russian will need to be better, but so will the team around him as the Panthers look to avoid an all-time embarrassment. After losing to the Vegas Golden Knights in a five-game SCF in 2023, this would be the type of crushing blow that would be very hard to come back from for a franchise. That's especially true with two of their best players in Sam Reinhart and Brandon Montour likely to leave in free agency on July 1.
The narrative has been completely changed in one of the most exciting Stanley Cup Finals in history. But Florida can still control it if they can find a win in front of the home crowd in the most important game in the existence of the Panthers.
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