Sergei Bobrovsky has been nothing short of a brick wall for the Florida Panthers in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and although he began to falter in the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final in Las Vegas, he kept his team in a crucial Game 3 win at home on Thursday night.
Bobrovsky finished Game 3 with 25 saves, including two in overtime before Carter Verhaeghe played hero and won the game to narrow the series deficit to 2-1 for the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Final.
“I only can control the things that I can control,” Bobrovsky said after the enormous victory. “You try to give your best and sometimes it's happening, so it's OK. As long as you stay mentally [focused] and the series goes on, and tonight is a big win for us.”
In the process, the Russian netminder earned his 11th consecutive playoff overtime win dating back to Game 2 of the second round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs when he played for the Columbus Blue Jackets. That includes seven straight in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The feat has him in legendary company; he's the third goaltender in NHL history with at least seven consecutive overtime wins in a single postseason, joining Patrick Roy, who won an astounding 10 straight while leading the 1993 Montreal Canadiens to a Stanley Cup, as well as Jean-Sebastien Giguere who won seven with the Anaheim Ducks in 2003.
Both goaltenders went on to win the Conn Smythe trophy as the MVP of their respective postseasons, and if Bobrovsky's Panthers can complete the series comeback to win their first Stanley Cup, he'll have a great chance as well.
If any other games between the Panthers and Golden Knights go past regulation and Florida wins, Bobrovsky will tie Roy with the most consecutive playoff overtime wins in history with 12.
It's certainly elite company, as JS Giguere was one of the best goalies of the early 2000s, and Patrick Roy is widely considered one of the greatest goaltenders in the history of the game.
Although the Comeback Cats made a huge late surge to avoid falling into an insurmountable 3-0 hole, they will need a win in Game 4 at home to avoid the Stanley Cup being in the building back at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday night in Las Vegas.
If they hope to have any chance of knotting the series at two, Sergei Bobrovsky will have to be on the case in a huge way on Saturday night.
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