Bobrovsky resurgence continues for Panthers in Game 5 of East 2nd Round

TORONTO -- The skates hung behind Sergei Bobrovsky's head, atop his locker in the visiting dressing room at Scotiabank Arena, white and scuffed and dripping. Long after the music had been turned down and the cheers had ceased and the media duties had been completed, the steady dripping continued.

Is that sweat?

"Probably," Bobrovsky said, his smile widening.

And for a moment, his mask -- figurately and literally -- had come off and the joy radiated, creases deepening into his face.

Bobrovsky had just made 50 saves to will and backstop his Florida Panthers past the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2 in overtime in Game 5 of this best-of-7 second round, and into the Eastern Conference Final. It marked the first time Bobrovsky has made it that deep into a season in his career and the first time since the Stanley Cup Final in 1996 the Panthers have advanced this far.

The goalie had been the reason they got to that point, withstanding an onslaught at times from the Maple Leafs, including a stop right in front on Auston Matthews at 2:44 of overtime. He held them off and held them off and held them off, allowing two goals for the fifth straight game to an offense that boasts Matthews, Mitchell Marner, John Tavares and William Nylander.

And though he allowed the game-tying goal to Nylander at 15:33 of the third period, in the overtime, he held them off long enough that, at 15:32, Radko Gudas could charge down the middle of the ice in a 3-on-2, giving Nick Cousins the chance to score the game-winner and end the game and the series.

"It's great. It's an explosion of the emotions," Bobrovsky said, of the game-ending goal. "You just let it go because it kind of builds and builds and you have to stay composed. Whatever happened, we had the power play, they had the chances, you keep building, pressure builds. It was definitely great relief."

Cousins, for his part, had received 108 texts messages in the hour after the game, the Belleville, Ontario, native having ended the season for the Maple Leas and pushed the Panthers through.

"So much credit to [Gudas], I think he broke the play up in our own end and got it up to me," Cousins said. "I was just fortunate enough to make a curl and drag there. Lucky enough it went in. All the credit to him. I think he screened their goalie too, on the play. Big play by him that probably doesn't get enough credit."

RELATED: [Complete Maple Leafs vs Panthers series coverage]

There was credit enough to go around after the game, from Aaron Ekblad scoring the first goal of the game at 3:31 to Carter Verhaeghe adding to it at 16:18 of the period to the nine shots on goal by Brandon Montour and the four blocked shots by Gudas.

There was the fact that virtually no one thought the Panthers would get more than a win or two in the Eastern Conference First Round against the Boston Bruins, let alone defeat them, let alone defeat the Maple Leafs.

This was not what was supposed to happen.

And yet, it did.

"Nobody in the world thought we were going to be in this position right now," forward Matthew Tkachuk said. "But we don't care what anybody's opinion is on us."

He referenced the Maple Leafs fans who had been chanting "We want Florida" after they had advanced to the second round, a position they may now regret.

"A lot of people weren't expecting a lot from us, including a bunch of Leafs fans before this series," Tkachuk said. "We weren't hearing much of those chants afterwards. So that felt nice."

Cousins said, sitting next to him, "I'll say."

And no one mattered more in that happening than Bobrovsky, a player who has never quite measured up to the seven-year contract he signed when he joined the Panthers on July 1, 2019, in a tenure that has been rocky at times.

He has been anything but rocky in the playoffs. With his 50 saves, the two-time Vezina Trophy winner as the best goalie in the NHL (2013, 2017) became the second goalie in Panthers history with a 50-plus save performance in the playoffs, joining John Vanbiesbrouck (55 in Game 4 of the 1996 Final).

He was a steadying force, the force that had ceded the net to Alex Lyon to start the playoffs against the Bruins, the force that had brought the Panthers back when Lyon faltered, the forced that allowed little chance for the Maple Leafs to get their footing.

The force that brought them here, to this point.

"I think the real story with Sergei is the pressure he was under when I put him in the deciding game in Boston," coach Paul Maurice said. "We're going in, down 3-1 into Boston, go get 'em and he was lights out. I think about that sometimes. As a professional athlete, the amount of pressure that's on him -- and some of that's based on his salary -- all the pressure on him.

"And to be that good? You've got to have a little tiny smile on your face when you leave the rink, wouldn't you think? Showed ya."