You stitch together a playoff run with this and that, with strong fabric and different threads, with Josh Mahura making two under-the-radar plays Saturday night, Aleksander Barkov making what Wayne Gretzky called one of the great playoff moves and the Florida Panthers winning their third straight playoff game in overtime.
It was back-to-back overtime winners for Matthew Tkachuk in this Eastern Conference finals followed by back-to-back similar celebrations.
“Let’s go, let’s go!” Tkachuk immediately said, heading right for the exit after Game 2 and motioning with a gloved hand for his Panthers teammates to follow him off the ice, just like he did after Game 1.
At the other end of the ice, alone for a moment until some teammates reached him, goalie Sergei Bobrovsky rose his arms into the air. They soon mobbed him, celebrating with him – maybe just celebrating him at this point.
Tkachuk and Bobrovsky aren’t this and that components of the Panthers’ surprise playoff run. They are the this and that. They’re the center of the story. Tkachuk is starring at one end of the ice like Bobrovsky is at the other end.
The TNT studio debate after Game 2 was who’s the front-runner for the Conn Smythe Trophy given to the MVP of the playoffs, Bobrovsky or Tkachuk. Take your pick. Yin or yang. Chocolate or vanilla. Mr. Defense and Mr. Offense. Neither is the wrong pick.
A minute before Tkachuk’s latest game-winner Saturday, Bobrovsky made a save on Carolina’s Jordan Staal, his 37th of the night, to keep the game going. It was his 100th save in 103 shots against the two games against Carolina. He’s played more than 200 minutes – the equivalent of three-and-a-third games – in those wins.
Carolina frames the Panthers’ 2-0 start this best-of-seven series just like Toronto did.
“We haven’t found a way to score,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said with a tired tone Saturday night. “I mean, that’s just it.”
Big-Game Bob and Big-Moment Matthew are to the Panthers’ surprise playoff run what Playoff Jimmy Butler is to the Miami Heat. Bobrovsky is one side of it, the cucumber-cool spirit, the every-night star you need in goal for a hockey run in the spring and keeps saying on a loop, “I’m happy to be here.”
Tkachuk is the opposite in every way. He’s fire. He brings an emotional edge that’s changed this team in every necessary way. He took on the Boston team in a fight. He’s broken the franchise record for points in a playoffs (18 and counting). He’s been everything general manager Bill Zito hoped in making a headlined trade for him last offseason.
The only difference is Tkachuk has played like this all season while Bobrovsky’s star returned out of nowhere. Tkachuk scored 109 points and is a finalist for the Hart Trophy as the regular-season MVP. Bobrovsky has been known more for his $10 million a year contract than his stellar play with the Panthers. He’s lost his job at various points the past few seasons to Spencer Knight, Chris Driedger and, most recently, Alex Lyon to start the postseason.
This is how it happens sometimes in the playoffs, the unexpected becoming expected, the benched name proving what had to be proved. Bobrovsky was back from injury at the start of the playoffs, but Panthers coach Paul Maurice didn’t put him in until the minor-league star, Lyon, cooled in the first round against Boston.
Bobrovsky came in late in a Game 3 loss that series to shake off some rust. Out for five weeks, he didn’t shine in a 6-2 loss in Game 4 that put the Panthers one game from elimination.
“The pressure he had in Game 5 was unbelievable,” Maurice said.
The Panthers won that game in overtime – another Tkachuk game-winner – and have kept winning since. Bobrovsky wasn’t the story right away, as the Panthers beat Boston 7-5 in Game 6.
He’s been a star ever since in winning nine of the Panthers’ past 10 games. He’s played with a particular talent and grace and especially a toughness you might expect from a man whose father was a Siberian coal miner and mother operated a construction crane.
Look at his numbers. He has a .931 save percentage in these playoffs – a .953 percentage against Toronto and now Carolina. John Vanbiesbrouck had a .932 save percentage when he became a franchise icon for carrying the 1996 Panthers to the Stanley Cup Finals.
“One thing we know is we’ve got Bob back there,” Tkachuk said. “He’s been remarkable for us.”
Carolina switched goalies after an exhausting, four-overtime Game 1. Bobrovsky played on Saturday in Game 2. He was the difference at the start as Carolina out-shot the Panthers, 16-1. They even had a 4-0 shot edge on the Panthers’ power play.
“Probably not an ideal first 10 minutes for us,” Tkachuk said.
They leaned on Bobrovsky. He’s Mr. May for these Panthers. He’s earning every cent of that contract now.
His latest save of the night came when Carolina’s Teuvo Teravainen had an open net right in front of the goal. Bobrovsky slid across and somehow stopped it with his blocker pad.
“There’s no way he saw it – he’s just been that good,” Tkachuk said.
Mahura, signed off waivers, made winning plays on each Panthers goal Saturday. He passed to Barkov, who yo-yoed the puck between his legs on the first goal that impressed even Gretzky. Mahura then kept the puck in Carolina’s zone to start the quick passing sequence that led to Sam Bennett passing to Sam Reinhart to Tkachuk.
“I just put it in,” he said.
He keeps putting it in. Bobrovsky keeps keeping it out. They’re to the Panthers what Butler is to the Heat. They’re this and that, the center of it all, the anchor to how this spring keeps rolling on.
