The Florida Panthers continued their impressive start to the 2023-24 NHL season on Friday. They matched up with the Pittsburgh Penguins in front of their home fans. Florida skated away with a 3-1 victory as goalie Sergei Bobrovsky stole the show for the defending Eastern Conference Champions.
Bobrovsky made 26 saves in the win on Friday night. The two-time Vezina Trophy winner has won each of his last four starts. Furthermore, he has posted a dominant .941 save percentage during that span.
After the game, head coach Paul Maurice spoke about Bobrovsky's performance. The Panthers bench boss praised his team's goaltending throughout the season. However, it wasn't until tonight that his goalie needed to be the primary game-changer on the ice.
“I think our goaltending has been really good this year, but there haven’t been a lot of nights where we asked them to be the dominant player,” Maurice said, via the Panthers' official website.
Article Continues Below“They’ve had some great games for us, but tonight Sergei had to be the difference in the second period because that game’s over and there’s no coming back if he’s not as good as he was,” the veteran bench boss continued on Friday.
The Penguins opened the scoring in the second period. Former Florida star Reilly Smith scored his seventh of the season to give Pittsburgh the lead. However, Florida went on to score three unanswered goals to skate away victorious.
With their win, the Panthers have pulled ahead of the Detroit Red Wings for sole possession of second place in the Atlantic Division. They certainly hope to keep the momentum going as they take the ice again on Sunday when they face off with the Columbus Blue Jackets.