Sergei Bobrovsky has earned the trust of Florida Panthers, and it keeps paying off

Sergei Bobrovsky gave up five goals in Game 1 against Toronto. Gave up four more in Game 2. Gave up four again in Game 3.

Those numbers aren’t great.

Paul Maurice was never worried.

The coach of the Florida Panthers has unflappable belief in his goaltender, so much so that Maurice basically lets Bobrovsky determine his own plan for practice days and off days. The trust level between coach and player is off the charts — and in Game 4 against Toronto, it was rewarded yet again.

Bobrovsky’s second shutout of these playoffs was a 2-0 win over Toronto on Sunday night, one that pulled the Panthers into a 2-2 tie in the teams’ Eastern Conference semifinal series. Game 5 is on Wednesday in Toronto.

“We just totally take him for granted,” Maurice said. “Which is what happens to all elite goaltenders.”

And yes, Bobrovsky is still elite.

Going back to the start of the 2023 playoffs, no goalie has more wins, saves or shutouts than Bobrovsky — who backstopped Florida to the Stanley Cup Final in 2023, then to the Cup title last year and now has the Panthers in essentially a best-of-three series for a spot in this season’s Eastern Conference finals.

The only goaltender in the last decade older than Bobrovsky — he’s four months shy of turning 37 — to have a playoff shutout is Mike Smith, who had a pair as a 40-year-old with Edmonton in 2022.

“Bob has tons of patience in his game,” Panthers defenseman Nate Schmidt said. “Can learn a thing or two from him as well.”

Bobrovsky was the calm in the eye of the storm in Game 4, which isn’t uncommon for him. The Panthers-Maple Leafs series is getting heated, with tempers boiling over at the end of the game Sunday when Toronto’s Max Domi took a shot at Florida captain Aleksander Barkov and four players — two from each team — got misconduct penalties with no time left on the clock.

But when these dustups happen, Bobrovsky does nothing. If there’s a scrum in front of his net after the whistle blows, he just skates off to the side, almost like he’s oblivious to what’s transpiring. He returns to the crease after a few seconds, gives a nearby defenseman a pat with the blade of his goalie stick, then goes back to work.

“I’ve seen it time and time again,” Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe said. “He’s such a leader back there. He keeps us so composed, such a great goalie. I wouldn’t want to play in front of any other goalie. Such a good guy, too. Yeah, I love Bobby.”

That’s a universal opinion in the Florida locker room. The Panthers are a team that openly professes how much the off-ice chemistry helps the on-ice product, and there might not be a player more beloved in that room than Bobrovsky.

It’s almost hard to remember that there were times that Bobrovsky’s contract — seven years, $70 million — made him a target for criticism by Panthers fans. Those days are long gone; he’s serenaded by “Bob-by!” chants multiple times in every home game now.

“I always appreciate the fans’ support,” Bobrovsky said. “They are the best. They always give me a boost of energy and support us, and they are a sixth player on the ice. So, it’s fun to play at home.”

Fun to play on the road, too. Game 5 is in Toronto, and nobody has more road wins in the playoffs in recent years than Bobrovsky.

That’s just one of the many reasons why Maurice — who isn’t afraid to tinker with lines and lineups — leaves his goalie alone.

“lf he has a game that you don’t think is Sergei Bobrovsky-like, I spend no time wondering if the next one’s going to be like that,” Maurice said. “He’s his own little leadership committee back there. He just goes in and gives us so many consistent looks. I don’t spend any time thinking about goaltending. Thank God. I’ll just screw it up.”

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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl