RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes’ new press conference room at Lenovo Center infringes on makeshift workout space set up for the Florida Panthers. And because it does, some reporters were treated to a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse of Sergei Bobrovsky’s gameday routine.
It was about as gymnastic as the two-pad stack Bobrovsky later threw at a failed shot attempt by the Hurricanes in Game 1 of this series.
Paul Maurice said he’d seen it once before and opted to never take it in again.
“Story that I’ve told is one of the first days I was with the team, and it was early in the regular season, and I’m walking out and see him doing some sort of Olympic lifting after the morning skate, and I just froze,” Maurice said. “I didn’t tell him he was playing, I just assumed that he knew that he was playing. And I think the goalie coach knew and, clearly, we didn’t tell the man he’s playing tonight, and he said, ‘That’s his routine.’
“So, I stay as far away from that, clearly, as I can.”
Watching it might have led one to think the 36-year-old’s ability to do the heavy lifting in a game that could stretch well beyond 60 minutes might be affected by all the heavy lifting done in the morning.
But that feeling faded as quickly as Bobrovsky’s hand moved to catch a piece of Sebastian Aho’s glove-side shot early in the first period of Tuesday’s game.
He was agile and precise, perfectly balanced, athletic, and strong, like one would have to be to snatch, clean and jerk over 110 pounds above their head, or to stop 31 shots from a desperate Hurricanes team.
Aho kicked one through Bobrovsky with 15 seconds remaining in the first, but the goaltender seized control of the game well before that and never relinquished it, surrendering only one more goal in this 5-2 win for the Panthers — a Jackson Blake tap-in during garbage time.
“Bobo made some great saves,” said A.J. Greer, who scored Florida’s third goal in the 34th minute of play after Niko Mikkola made a great pass to him on the rush.
He was effusive in his praise of the goaltender, adding, “He’s always locked in.”
What you see from Bobrovsky on the ice is only matched by what we got to see from him off it on this day.
Olympic lifts and dynamic, snatch squats hours before a game, which he told us he’s been doing regularly for some time now.
“Less than 10 years,” specified Bobrovsky, “but I like those movements because they are to activate the full body.”
There are many more we weren’t privy to on Tuesday morning.
“This guy works out a ton,” said Greer. “He spends time in the wave pool. He’s got all this crazy routine stuff. But again, it’s just amazing to watch him do it day-in and day-out. The regular person would get tired and someday he wouldn’t want to do it. And this guy’s just on it, and I think that’s why he’s such a great goalie.”
There’s the mental side, too, which enables Bobrovsky to play as great under the pressure of the Stanley Cup Playoffs as he has over recent years — and recent days.
He came into Tuesday’s contest having surrendered just four goals total over his last four games. He shut the Toronto Maple Leafs out in Game 4 of Round 2 to tie the series, made 32 out of 33 stops in Game 5 to give Florida the lead, was beat only twice in a Game 6 loss, only once in Game 7, and he was every bit as good in Game 1 against the Hurricanes.
Bobrovsky was composed, especially after Aho’s goal stood up, and particularly after Andrei Svechnikov barrelled into him in the second period.
“It’s ok,” Bobrovsky said. “It’s playoffs, they’re trying to get under the skin…I just focus on my things and don’t try to think about that.”
The Panthers focused in front of him. They were even surgical in at least some departments.
They broke Carolina’s first wave of pressure as cleanly as they could hope to through the first half of the game to open up a 3-1 lead. They exerted strong and calculated pressure of their own on the forecheck, getting to the hallmark of their game consistently, and they made Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen look far more ordinary than he had at any other point of these playoffs.
Were the Panthers perfect? Far from it.
Maurice didn’t particularly like how they handled Carolina’s rush game. He said they’d have several adjustments to make in that department without “sacrificing aggressiveness to cover,” because, as he put it, “That’s what Bob’s for.”
The coach wouldn’t pretend to know how he does it.
“I don’t know anything about goaltending,” Maurice said, “and because I’m hyper aware of that, I don’t insert myself.”
Not to stop Bobrovsky from overcooking his morning workout, and certainly not to search for indications of whether he’s about to deliver his best game.
Still, Maurice had to see and feel what we did from early on in Tuesday’s contest —that Bobrovsky was locked in for the night.
Greer did, and he was anything but surprised to see that version of Bobrovsky.
“He’s unbelievable,” the forward said. “To be able to do what he’s doing, like with the pressure and all, and make some big saves when we’re necessarily not on our best game at certain shifts, that’s a huge part of why we win games. I can’t talk enough about Bob. He’s just such a pro, such a great person and just a competitor.”
