Just a week into the season and the accolades are already rolling in.
On Monday, the NHL announced goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky as the league’s Third Star of the Week after he backstopped the Florida Panthers to a flawless 3-0-0 record during the week ending Oct. 12.
The other stars were Vegas forward Pavel Dorofeyev (First Star) and Ottawa forward Shane Pinto (Second Star).
“The structure is here,” Bobrovsky said of the early success.
Picking up right where he left off after another sensational run to a second straight Stanley Cup, Bobrovsky made 17 saves to lead the Panthers to a 3-2 win over Chicago in the season opener on Oct. 7.
On Oct. 9, he stopped 19 of 20 shots in a 2-1 win over Philadelphia.
Closing out a perfect homestand for the Panthers, Bobrovsky saw his biggest workload of the week, stopping 26 of 28 shots in a 6-2 beatdown of division-foe Ottawa on Oct. 11.
Through three starts, he boasts a 1.67 goals-against average and .925 save percentage.
“It’s great to have a rhythm,” Bobrovsky said. “It’s great to see the action, the game action. It’s all good.”
In the midst of his 16th season in the NHL, the two-time Vezina Trophy winner is just five wins away from tying Jacques Plante for ninth place on the NHL’s all-time list (437).
