SUNRISE, Fla. — Rod Brind’Amour pursed his lips, shook his head and didn’t try to hold the pain from tumbling out before him.
“We can’t do much more,’’ the Carolina Hurricanes coach said. “We like how we’re playing, clearly. You’ve just got to find a way to put one in. Defensively, we’re giving up nothing really, in three games.”
His voice picked up emotion.
“If you said you’re playing potent offense tonight and giving up 20 shots per night you’d be pretty happy. It’s weird. That is just the way things are going this series.”
Frustrated?
“Yeah, we’re frustrated,’’ he said. “There’s times you lose and you’re frustrated you got beat. But we are losing. It doesn’t feel like we’re getting beat. That’s why it’s frustrating.”
All this to get to the one line that sums up the Florida Panthers 1-0 win in Game 3 on Monday night to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.
“Obviously, their guy is the difference right now,’’ he said.
This is what Sergei Bobrovsky is doing to teams this playoffs. He’s doing it to full organizations, really. Boston went from a historic team to a historic disappointment when he came on at the end of that series. Toronto fired its general manager after Bobrovsky took over the series.
And Carolina? It outplayed Florida by most hockey measures in Game 3. Stats? Carolina had more shots, 32-17. Chances? Carolina had two breakaways and hit the goal post three times.
You want analytics? The hockey site, Natural Stat Trick, computed Carolina rated an expected 2.62 goals for their shots and chances in Game 3 compared to .75 goals from the Panthers.
The Panthers have scored six goals this Eastern Conference finals, are up 3-0 and with a win in Game 4 advance to the Stanley Cup Finals. With a win in any of the next four games, really. That’s what it is down to now.
Who it is, really.
“He’s been incredible all playoff long,’’ Sam Bennett said at his locker after Game 3 of Bobrovsky. “It’s incredible to see. Even if they have a big push, we have a guy back there who’s going fight and do what ever it takes. It’s a lot of fun playing when you have a guy like that back there.”
Sitting 10 feet away, Bobrovsky was wiping down his skates and putting covers on the blades. He picked up a banana peel from a post-game snack and carried to a trash can. He reached into a drawer for a clean towel.
There’s housekeeping to take care of, even now, maybe especially now for a goalie built on routines and process. Stretching. Meditation. Then the real work of not overthinking as Carolina pumped 32 shots at him Monday night.
“It’s like, in a game, you just play the moment,’’ he said. “There is no future, no past. You’re just right here, right now. You see what’s going on, you know what’s happening and react accordingly.”
He then said the two words that resound right now.
“It’s simple,’’ he said.
Simple? Carrying a team on nights like this? Riding your first great stretch in four years as a Panther?
Monday was the first shutout in his 58 career playoff starts. He’s won three, straight one-goal games this series. He’s stopped 67 consecutive shots dating to the first period of Game 2. He survived the four overtimes of Game 1 and didn’t let up.
Bobrovsky’s numbers are piling up to carry the heft of history. His 132 saves this series are the most through the first three games of a final or semifinal series since 1956.
He lets as little out as he does in, though. Ask about his play, about his run — ask anything about himself and it’s generally reflected back with a plural tone of team.
“I would say, it’s a team structure, how we play,’’ he said of shutting out Carolina. “My teammates allow me to play good, the structure, how hard they work to get the result. It’s not easy to protect the night, block shots and sacrifice their stats for that.”
One stat matters now. One more win. Brind’Amour knows Carolina has to solve Bobrovsky. The Panthers hope to ride him to the finals.
