Panthers top Hurricanes for 3-0 lead in East final
Panthers 1 Hurricanes 0
SUNRISE, Fla. — The chants of fans in Florida drowned out the public-address announcer at the end of the game Monday night, making it impossible to hear his call of the first star of the game.
Then again, they already knew who it was going to be. “Bobby!”
“Bobby!”
“Bobby!”
Sergei Bobrovsky earned those cries from the 20,000 or so who chanted in unison, after leaving no doubt in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference final — and putting the Panthers are on the brink of their first trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 27 years. Bobrovsky stopped 32 shots for his first playoff shutout, and the Panthers blanked the Carolina Hurricanes 1-0 on Monday night.
“No matter what the score is, we’re just trying to make it as easy as possible for him,” said Panthers forward Sam Reinhart, who got the game’s lone goal on the power play midway through the second period.
He’s rewarded their work, and then some. Bobrovsky is now 10-1 in his last 11 appearances and has been almost perfect in the last eight games. Going back to Game 1 of Round 2 against Toronto, Bobrovsky has not allowed more than two goals in any contest, with 296 saves on 309 shots — a .958 save percentage.
And if that doesn’t sound absurd enough, try this one: Out of the last 110 shots he’s faced, Bobrovsky has stopped 109 — starting in the third period of the four-OT win in Game 1.
“We’re happy with the ‘W;’ we’re happy with the win, but the next game is going to be a big game,” Bobrovsky said.
It could be Florida’s biggest since 1996. That was the last year in which the Panthers played for the Stanley Cup, but they can clinch a trip to the title round with a win in Game 4 on Wednesday.
This marks the 205th time that a team has taken a 3-0 series lead in NHL playoff history. Of the first 204, 200 went on to win the series. The Panthers are 2-0 when taking the first three games of a series; the Hurricanes are 0-5 when dropping the first three.
“We can’t do much more,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We like how we’re playing, clearly. It’s just, we’ve got to find a way to put one in.”
Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett had the assists on Reinhart’s goal for Florida. It wasn’t a perfect night for Florida, however: Captain Aleksander Barkov left with about 7 minutes left in the first period with a lower-body injury and did not return, even though the team listed him as questionable. Panthers coach Paul Maurice did not have an update on Barkov’s condition after the game.
Frederik Andersen stopped 16 shots for Carolina. The Hurricanes pulled him with 3:22 left, desperate for the tying goal, but barely even managed to test Bobrovsky the rest of the way. And when it was over, the Hurricanes’ Jesperi Kotkaniemi was seen smashing his stick on the way to the locker room, the frustration so obvious.
That’s what a night of facing Bobrovsky does right now.