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Kristen Shilton, ESPN NHL reporterMay 17, 2024, 10:05 PM ET
CloseKristen Shilton is a national NHL reporter for ESPN.
The Florida Panthers waited out the Boston Bruins in their second round Stanley Cup playoff series.
And patience paid off.
The Panthers and Bruins were knotted 1-1 in Game 6 on Friday until defenseman Gustav Forsling broke the stalemate for Florida with just over ninety seconds left in regulation. Boston goalie Jeremy Swayman let out the juiciest of rebounds he’d love to have to back and Forsling made no mistake punching the Panthers ticket to an Eastern Conference final against New York.
Now that should be a high scoring affair.
How the Panthers got there — and what to expect from their series with the Rangers — is here.
Savvy Sergei
Most goaltenders will admit it’s better to stay busy. And in this series against Boston, Sergei Bobrovsky decidedly was not. Boston averaged the fewest shots on goal among remaining playoff teams (25 per game), and there were lengthy stretches where Bobrovsky didn’t have much to do.
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It would be easy to dismiss his contributions to Florida’s success by just looking at the numbers then (.896 save percentage, 2.51 goals-against average) but that doesn’t tell the whole Bobrovsky tale.
The Panthers got the timely saves from their veteran. He wasn’t leaky at the wrong time, despite being underworked. Plus, if you take out the Panthers’ 5-1 loss in Game 1, Bobrovsky didn’t allow more than two goals in an outing the rest of the way.
Being dialed in at crucial moments is how goaltenders set themselves apart in the playoffs, and that’s what Bobrovsky did for Florida throughout the second-round run.
Bolstered by balance
The Panthers tapped in with 12 different goal scorers against the Bruins, with all but three of their forwards landing on the scoresheet with at least one. There was no singular scoring star (although Aleksander Barkov came closest to that moniker, by pacing the group with three) and so Boston had…
Source link : https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/40146747/nhl-playoffs-2024-stanley-cup-florida-panthers-takeaways-bruins-lightning-bracket
Author : Kristen Shilton
Publish date : 2024-05-18 03:32:38
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