Panthers Waiting on Sergei Bobrovsky's Return to Form

The Florida Panthers aim to tie their second-round series with the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 4. After dropping the first two, the defending Stanley Cup champions gutted out a Game 3 win to bring the series tally to 2-1. The series can shift back in the Panthers' favor with a Game 4 victory, and they need their Vezina Trophy-winning goalie to steal the win.

The Panthers are waiting for starting goalie Sergei Bobrovsky to return to his regular-season and 2024 postseason form. Last year, he won all 16 games of the playoffs for Florida and compiled a 2.32 goals-against average and .906 save percentage.

This year, he's struggled. Despite posting another 30+ win campaign in the regular season, he's been considerably worse across all statistics. He has a 2.94 GAA and a .875 save percentage.

In the second-round series, he's struggled even more. He's allowed five goals once and four goals twice against the Maple Leafs. Compared to the one four-goal game he allowed in the first round, it's evident how effective Toronto is at beating Bobrovsky.

To counteract that, the veteran goalie has to improve his save percentage against high-danger shots. The Leafs are excelling at getting in tight and scoring in bunches because of it. According to NHL EDGE, 54 of their 192 shots on goal have come from the high-danger area of the offensive zone. Bobrovsky stopped just 41 of those attempts through three games, and it's a huge reason why the Leafs have 13 goals in three contests.

Playing in front of his home crowd, Bobrovsky has the chance to turn it around. The veteran puck-stopper was excellent at home during the regular season. Over 30 starts, he collected a record of 20-9-1. He'll need to draw on that comfort to return to his Vezina Trophy-winning form and help the Panthers tie the series at 2-2.