Panthers confident Bobrovsky will rebound in Game 3

SUNRISE, Fla. — Sergei Bobrovsky entered the Stanley Cup Final as the hottest goaltender in hockey.

He backstopped the Florida Panthers to the final by winning 11 of his last 12 games and stopping 438 of 465 shots in that span, for a 1.95 goalsagainst average and .942 save percentage. In two losses to the Vegas Golden Knights before being pulled midway through Game 2 Monday night, Bobrovsky has allowed eight goals in just under 87 minutes of action for a 5.52 GAA and .826 save percentage.

Despite all that, and because of everything he did to get Florida through the Eastern Conference playoffs, coach Paul Maurice is expressing plenty of confidence in “Bob” moving forward into Game 3 on Thursday.

“He was very, very good in Game 1,” Maurice said Tuesday before the teams flew from Las Vegas to Florida. “I thought Sergei was like our team (in Game 2): I thought we were just slightly off. We didn’t give him a chance. He didn’t, maybe, quiet the game early for us when we needed it quieted by the goaltender, but I’ve got complete faith in what he’ll be able to do in Game 3.”

Maurice pulled Bobrovsky for Alex Lyon after allowing four goals on 13 shots in a 7-2 Game 2 loss that put Florida in a 2-0 hole in the best-of-seven series. He said afterward he’d “sweat” his goalie decision until later in the week, but praised Bobrovsky for being unbelievable all playoffs and said the hook was to give the 34-year-old some rest.

This is close to the most hockey Bobrovsky has played during his 13 seasons in the NHL, which included twice winning the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goalie. It is by far his longest playoff run: 16 appearances with 15 starts and 11 wins to show for it.

Games 1 and 2 of the final were the first time he had allowed four goals back to back this postseason.

“Bob has been our best player,” forward Anton Lundell said. “He’s a huge, huge part of our team. We can always trust him, but we need to help him more. We need to play better defense. Too many chances for him.”

From Bobrovsky out, the Panthers need to be much better. While he looked shaky early in Game 2, the goals followed a familiar recipe: pucks shot through screens or after Vegas players got past the defense and in all alone.

“We can be a little better in front of our goaltender,” Maurice said.

It doesn’t help the Panthers that they could be without multiple important role players in the franchise’s first home playoff game since 1996.

Center Eetu Luostarinen is “not ready to play yet” after missing the first two games, Maurice said, and defenseman Radko Gudas is a question mark after being hurt in Game 2 when he tried to hit Vegas forward Ivan Barbashev but took the brunt of the contact.

Maurice had no updates on either player but pointed out Florida won a playoff game earlier in this run after losing Aleksander Barkov to injury early and are to withstand absences.

“That’s the story of the playoffs for each team: There’ll be guys that go down,” Maurice said. “But it is an opportunity. There is that for those players (who go in).”