Yahoo Sports Rodrigues nets shootout winner, but Bobrovsky has most fun
Evan Rodrigues notched the game-deciding goal in a shootout to give the Florida Panthers a 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers Saturday night at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise.
Rodriguez came up big in the shootout, but so did goalkeeper Sergei Bobrovsky who turned back four of five Flyers snipers to preserve the victory.
Bobrovsky also stopped six shots in the 3-on-3 overtime period to get the Cats to the shootout.
“Bobby gets better the bigger the game, the higher the stakes and the more intense it is,” Rodrigues said following the game. “Today, he showed that. When he makes more saves and he gets more action, that’s when he’s even better and takes his game to another level.”
Bobrovsky said afterwards that it was fun for him to have the pucks flying at him so late in the game. He also takes delight in bringing joy to the people in the building.
“That was a fun challenge,” Bobrovsky said. “Lots of breakaways. I think it was fun for fans, too. We had some great scoring chances, too. It’s just fun all around.”
Coach Paul Maurice said he does not look at Bobrovsky's stat sheets. He just likes to count the wins.
"Huge saves, I think in our first whatever it was, without Barkov, without those two center men and Matthew [Tkachuk], we gave up a little more than we liked that we haven't forced him to be the difference. I think he was the difference tonight," Maurice said. "Clearly, we haven't asked them or forced them to do that too often, but he rises to that. So I don't look at Sergei stats at all, or neither for that matter. I watch the game."
Maurice was also pleased with Rodrigues' performance. After the game he said Rodrigues is hitting his stride.
"The strength of his game is actually his defensive reads. And when he starts the game, focused on that everything kind of falls in line for his hands are there," Maurice said. "He makes sure to get placed. I think he's confident. And the true confidence is actually the place that you don't try to make it's not there. And tonight there and tonight there wasn't a lot there, so he picked his right spots, and was really good."
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