Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made a staggering 33 saves to become the fifth goaltender in NHL history to record a shutout in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, as Florida defeated Edmonton Oilers, 3-0, at home.
Eetu Luostarinen, Evan Rodrigues and Carter Verhaeghe scored in each period of Saturday’s game at Amerant Bank Arena.
Chants of ‘Bobby! Cop!’ were repeated over and over again as the goalie everyone just calls ‘Bob’ deflected multiple breakaways, stopping Connor McDavid as the reigning three-time MVP went into turbo mode, flying around and out of the box to make Florida’s net a impenetrable fortress.
At one point, Bobrovsky lost his stick for 30 seconds and still managed to make saves.
Bobrovsky, a two-time Vezina Trophy winner for his stellar regular-season play, recorded his second shutout in this streak and third in the playoffs in his 14-year career.
The Panthers made light work of the Oilers on Saturday. Night at home to take center stage in the series.
Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky was the hero with 33 saves (seen acknowledging the crowd)
Thanks to him, the Panthers have a lead in the Cup final for the first time in franchise history and are now three wins away from hoisting hockey’s sacred trophy for the first time.
It didn’t even matter that they were outshot 32-18. Back in the finals for the second consecutive season and healthier and more prepared for the moment than in the five-game loss to Las Vegas a year ago, Florida showed that experience on this stage does matter, handling the pressure and tense moments like most of its players. I’ve been here before.
Verhaeghe and Rodrigues’ goals came on the first five shots on net against Edmonton’s Stuart Skinner, who was stopped short by a slow dropback and a missed run to the puck. Skinner, who has had his ups and downs this postseason and whose play seemed like the biggest question of the series, wasn’t guilty of either.
Edmonton controlled much of the 5-on-5 game, extended its penalty kill streak to 30, and its power play did almost everything right except score. Despite all that, the Oilers find themselves behind this core group led by McDavid and Leon Draisaitl’s first Finals appearance.
It is a series that features the greatest distance between teams facing each other in the Cup, eclipsing the previous record set in 2011 by Boston and Vancouver.
The trophy was placed on the ice before the puck was released, similar to what the league did by lighting it up in the empty stands in Edmonton four years ago when the playoffs were held in pandemic bubbles.
This was the polar opposite of that eerily quiet scene, with a sold-out crowd of 19,543 fans screaming and excited for a fifth consecutive finals with a Florida team.
While there have been 20 playoff games played in Canada over the past 20 seasons, this was the 22nd in the Sunshine State in that time.
Another is scheduled for Monday when these teams return for Game 2.
More to continue…
