Maple Leafs think they haven't seen Sergei Bobrovsky's best yet
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Sergei Bobrovsky isn’t playing like a future Hall of Famer.
Whether the Florida Panthers goaltender eventually winds up with his own plaque in hockey’s shrine probably isn’t up for much debate. His resume includes a Stanley Cup, two Vezina Trophies and a gold medal with Russia at the 2014 world championship.
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Maple Leafs think they haven't seen Sergei Bobrovsky's best yet Back to video
It’s what has happened most recently that matters most right now, though, and the Maple Leafs have built a 2-0 lead in the series against the Panthers partly because Bobrovsky hasn’t been consistently sharp.
The Leafs have scored nine goals on 50 shots on Bobrovsky, but they figure they’re going to see a better version of the 36-year-old once the puck drops in Game 3 on Friday night in Sunrise.
“He’s a gamer, he’s a great goalie, he’s a worker,” said Leafs coach Craig Berube, who was on the Philadelphia Flyers coaching staff when Bobrovsky was an NHL rookie in the 2010-11 season. “We’re going to have to make life difficult for him. I liked how we went to the blue paint (in Game 2) on some situations. We have to do it even more.”
Bobrovsky has a sub-par .876 save percentage in seven games in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs. That said, his teammates’ belief in what he is capable of doing apparently hasn’t taken a hit.
“Our confidence in him is never wavering,” Panthers forward Sam Reinhart said before the club travelled back home on Thursday. “We feel we have the best goalie in the world back there. Our job is to make it as easy as possible on him and I think we can do a better job of that.”
The goaltending, as it usually does in every playoff series, already has become a storyline on both sides. While the Panthers want to see more from Bobrovsky, the Leafs will be sticking with Joseph Woll as Anthony Stolarz continues to recover from an undisclosed injury.
“Joe has been great, and it says a lot about his character, not playing through the first round and having him come in (in Game 1) and make a few big saves, and then the performance he put up (in Game 2), it just shows that he truly cares,” Leafs forward Steven Lorentz said. “He’s a top-notch pro. The guys in here love him.”
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