Bobrovsky continues to come up clutch for Panthers in playoffs

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- When the shot came, Sergei Bobrovsky was ready. It didn't matter what had happened in Game 1 or Game 2, nor what happened in the first period or last season's Stanley Cup Playoffs. This was the moment.

Bobrovsky was ready.

As William Nylander took the pass just over the blue line, with only Gustav Forsling racing to catch up, as he flicked the shot on Bobrovsky from near the top of the right circle, Bobrovsky faced him. Just above the crease, he angled his body toward Nylander, his right pad knocking the puck away.

It was 8:46 into overtime in Game 3, a game the Florida Panthers desperately needed to avoid a 3-0 hole in their best-of-7 Eastern Conference Second Round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, a time they needed everyone to be at their best -- no one more than Bobrovsky.

And he was.

He was everything they required, saving overtime breakaway chances from both Nylander and Matthew Knies, allowing the Panthers the space to find their own chance, which Brad Marchand converted on at 15:27 to bring the series to a 2-1 deficit for the Panthers ahead of Game 4 at Amerant Bank Arena on Sunday (7:30 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TBS, SN, TVAS, CBC).

"Huge," forward Sam Reinhart said. "That's what he does and that's what he's done at this time of year countless times, over and over again. We have all the confidence in the world in him."

Heading into Game 3, Bobrovsky had allowed nine goals in two games after allowing just 11 in five against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round. He allowed four more in Game 3, though that included the third-period game-tying goal that bounced off of defenseman Seth Jones and in, ultimately sending the game to overtime.

"It is what it is," Bobrovsky said. "You control what you can control. Sometimes they happen like that, sometimes they happen your way, too."

But once they got there, once they reached overtime, Bobrovsky shined – before, as usual, deflecting the praise.

"It's a huge game for us, obviously," Bobrovsky said. "You're just trying to stay with the moment."

It's a skill he's learned, he's honed, he's developed, over the 15 years he's played in the NHL, years that have included a career that has been far from a straight line. It's a tenure that has had bad games and bad years, has had Vezina Trophy wins as the best goalie in the game – twice – and has had questions about his ability to win when it counted.

Questions that continued to crop up even last season, when he had appeared ticketed for the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP -- until he wasn't.

But as a player who has now taken his team to the Stanley Cup Final twice, has won once, it would seem clear that as quickly as Bobrovsky can dip, can lose his game, he can find it again.

Not that perhaps it was ever lost.

"I don't think he loses it," Florida coach Paul Maurice said. "I think it's just an off night. I don't think he has to go anywhere. When you're in your first three or four years in this League and you have a tough one, you're wondering if that's a change in direction -- 'Oh, no it's going downhill for me,' or 'I'm hot now.' I think he's far beyond viewing the game as that. It's an individual night."

He has done too much and seen too much to worry.

He knows another shot will come, and another, and another. Another chance to prove himself, another chance to save his team, another moment in which he will be needed. He has found that through his process -- his eternal focus -- and through the relationship he's built with Panthers goalie coach Robb Tallas.

"We have an unusual team at times this year where we would go long stretches and we wouldn't give a whole heck of a lot up. It was almost tougher for him this year," Maurice said. "And then every NHL team's got good players, you'd get those flurries or breaks or great players on a breakaway. … You continue to access that mental toughness to sit through games, not get much, and then get a heater. I think he's had a good year to prep him for playoffs this year."

It's exactly what Bobrovsky showed in overtime in Game 3, when he came up big when it mattered most, when he made the saves that allowed the Panthers to perhaps save their season.

"We trust Bob," forward Carter Verhaeghe said. "He's been unbelievable. Sometimes some puck luck [doesn't go our way], but it's on us. We've given up a lot of stuff and he's been back there shutting the door. We trust him. He's our goalie. He's a brick wall back there. We love him."