State Your Case: Tkachuk or Bobrovsky as most valuable to Panthers

The Conn Smythe Trophy will not be awarded for at least another two weeks, but it is not too early to debate who is the most valuable player for the Florida Panthers, who will represent the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup Final.

The Panthers will play the Vegas Golden Knights in the best-of-7 Final. The Golden Knights defeated the Dallas Stars 6-0 in Game 6 on Monday to advance.

Game 1 of the Final will be at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; TNT, TBS, truTV, SN, CBC, TVAS).

There are a host of players who have played huge roles in getting the Panthers to their first Final since 1996. Forward Sam Reinhart is second for Florida with seven goals. Forward Carter Verhaeghe has scored three game-winning goals and is a Panthers-best plus-11. Forward Aleksander Barkov has 14 points and is the best two-way forward on his team. Defenseman Brandon Montour is playing 27:35 per game and leads NHL defensemen with six goals.

Yet the MVP battle likely comes down to forward Matthew Tkachuk and goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, two of the biggest leaders in the march from the No. 8 seed to the Final, which included victories against the record-setting Boston Bruins, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Metropolitan Division champion Carolina Hurricanes.

Tkachuk, the emotional leader of the Panthers since arriving during the offseason in a trade from the Calgary Flames, is second in the NHL with 21 points (nine goals, 12 assists), behind Stars forward Roope Hintz (24 points), and his average of 1.31 points per game is tops in the NHL among players to reach the conference finals.

Bobrovsky, who did not start until Game 4 of the first round with the Panthers down 3-1 against the Bruins, is 11-2 with a .935 save percentage, the best among goalies with at least five games, and a 2.21 goals-against average, which is second to Frederik Andersen of the Carolina Hurricanes (1.83) among goalies who made it to the third round.

So, is it Tkachuk, the star forward, or Bobrovsky, the inspiring goalie, who is the MVP for the Panthers, who are four wins from the first Cup in franchise history?

That's the question before NHL.com writers Tom Gulitti and Shawn P. Roarke in this installment of State Your Case.

Gulitti: Tkachuk was my pick to be the Conn Smythe winner through the first two rounds of the playoffs, but Bobrovsky's dominance in the Eastern Conference Final against the Carolina Hurricanes, added to what he did in the first two rounds, has put him on another level. After he helped the Panthers upset the Toronto Maple Leafs in five games in the second round, with a 1.89 goals-against average and .943 save percentage, Bobrovsky stopped 168 of 174 shots in 16-plus periods of play in the sweep of the Hurricanes for a 1.12 GAA, .966 save percentage and one shutout. Before Tkachuk scored the winning goal in the fourth overtime of a 3-2 victory in Game 1 against Carolina, Bobrovsky made 63 saves to get the Panthers to that point. It was a similar story in a 2-1 overtime victory in Game 2 when Bobrovsky made 37 saves to put Tkachuk in position to be the OT hero again. Bobrovsky's 32 saves in a 1-0 victory in Game 3 for his first Stanley Cup Playoff shutout made it eight straight games in which he allowed two goals or fewer. He allowed three goals in Game 4, but still made 36 saves, in a 4-3 victory.

Roarke: There is no denying the brilliance of Bobrovsky. I sat through that four-overtime game right next to you, Tom, and it was one of the most brilliant goalie performances I have seen, right up there with the play I saw from Dominik Hasek of the Buffalo Sabres during a 1-0 victory in four overtimes against the New Jersey Devils in Game 6 of the first round of the 1994 Stanley Cup Playoffs But he is not the most valuable person on this team. That remains Tkachuk. Not only did he factor in the winning goal in each of the four wins against Carolina, including two in overtime, but he gives Florida the swagger to believe it can get a goal when needed. Bobrovsky was great, but Frederik Andersen was almost as good (so was Antti Raanta in Game 2). There was nobody for Carolina that was nearly as good, nor nearly as impactful, as Matthew Tkachuk. There hasn't been these whole playoffs.

Gulitti: There's no doubt about Tkachuk's impact on the Panthers' attitude and play, which includes the regular season. Still, without Bobrovsky's stellar performances against the Hurricanes, Tkachuk's two overtime goals don't happen and his assist on the lone goal in Game 3 doesn't mean as much. Bobrovsky carried Florida against Carolina and during the second round against Toronto, during which Tkachuk did not score a goal. Bobrovsky took some time to find his game in the first round against the Bruins after taking over from Alex Lyon as the Panthers' starter in Game 4, but his emergence was a turning point their comeback from a 3-1 deficit in that series. Tkachuk's overtime winner in Game 5 kept the Panthers alive, but again, that does not happen without Bobrovsky making 44 saves before that, including one on Brad Marchand's breakaway in the final second of regulation. That save might have been the biggest moment in Florida's playoff run.

Roarke: I am never one to shortchange a goalie. I am a card-carrying member of the goalie union, but I have to give due where due is due. Tkachuk is head and shoulders above the field of skaters that could win this award. He leads the Panthers in goals (nine), assists (12), points (21), power-play goals (four), power-pay points (nine), overtime goals (three) and game-winning goals (four). Oh yeah, he averages more time on ice (22:43) than any other forward on the Panthers. But all of those numbers just back up what he means to this team. He drags it into the fight and gives it the swagger to overcome adversity. He is its heart and soul and its most valuable member.