SUNRISE, Fla. – With the power play clicking and Sergei Bobrovsky not giving up an inch, the Florida Panthers beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-0 at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday.
Earning the 41st shutout of his career, Bobrovsky stopped all 35 shots he faced.
“You try to stay with the moment, one shot at a time, and then what happens,” Bobrovsky said of holding on for the shutout. “You never know. The guys in the NHL are so good and in one moment anything can happen. I’m really happy. I thought the guys did a great job in front of me."
As the final seconds ticked away, “Bob-by! Bob-by!” chants echoed through the arena.
“It’s definitely a great feeling,” smiled Bobrovsky, who now sits at 24-10-2. “I appreciate that support, appreciate the cheering. It’s great for me, but the team made me a star.”
Sweeping their two-game season series with the Avalanche (32-17-4), the Panthers (33-15-4) now trail the Boston Bruins (32-11-9) by just three points for first in the Atlantic Division.
If tonight’s game was a measuring stick, they passed with flying colors.
“The whole 60 minutes, we played pretty solid,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. “I think what was impressive was that at the end it was 4-0 and we were still making the right plays. We didn’t try to score the fifth goal. We didn’t try to cheat or anything.”
With the Avalanche pressing early in the first period, Sergei Bobrovsky stood tall for the Panthers. His biggest stop came moments after a power play had expired for Colorado when he denied Ryan Johansen on a shot from the doorstep to keep the game scoreless.
On the power play, the Panthers broke the ice when Carter Verhaeghe grabbed his own rebound in the paint and sent the puck past Alexander Georgiev to make it 1-0 at 10:19.