The Panthers need Bobrovsky to be perfect in tight games

With the Eastern Conference Finals set to begin on Wednesday night, fans are ready to be treated to a goaltending duel between the New York Rangers and Florida Panthers’ top goaltenders.

On one end, you have the 2022 Vezina Trophy winner, Igor Shesterkin. On the other, there is the 2017 Vezina winner, Sergei Bobrovsky.

While the fans and critics alike can argue which one is better, one thing is growing abundantly clear: Bobrovsky can’t rely on the Panthers to score their way out of problems this late in the postseason.

The Russian netminder is more than capable of stealing a game for Florida, as we have seen earlier in these playoffs, and especially during the team’s run to the Stanley Cup Finals last year. If the Panthers want to get back to the Finals again, “Bob” might have to be even better.

In 11 playoff games so far, the 35-year-old has a 2.37 goals-against average and .902 save percentage.

On Wednesday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton joined Tyler Yaremchuk and Colby Cohen to explain how crucial Bobrovsky will be in the Panthers’ success against the Rangers.

Carter Hutton: Florida was giving up chances [against Boston], and he was making timely saves in the series. For me, in this series, he’s going to be challenged. We know how good the Rangers’ power play is. They’re going to get to the net, they’re a little deeper than Boston. This is going to be a good challenge for Bobrovsky.

What I love is his maturity. He’s calmer, you can watch him carry himself. Even after he gets scored on, he kind of has a reset…He has a way to stay focused mentally, in the moment, which I think will be important, especially playing in MSG this week.

You can watch the full segment and the entire episode here…