Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky might have made the save of the year in Tuesday’s 3-2 overtime win against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
During the second period of Tuesday’s contest, Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli shot the puck wide of the net before captain Steven Stamkos threw the puck back in front. Awaiting the puck was defenseman Matt Dumba, who had a wide-open net to shoot at.
Despite being on the other side of the post, Bobrovsky was able to contort his body in front of the goal, and make a miraculous save with his arm to deny Dumba’s backhanded shot on what looked to be a surefire goal.
“Call it skill, call it luck, call it whatever you want,” Stamkos said regarding the save. “I mean, he’s an athletic goalie, he makes a desperation move … obviously, that was a big save in that moment of the game. Great goalies make saves like that. Just unfortunate that we weren’t on the other end of it.”
Bobrovsky was completely turned around and facing the net when the puck came across the slot. The Panthers netminder was still able to maneuver his body in front of the goal enough to turn aside Dumba’s shot.
It ended up being a massive save in the grand scheme of things considering that the game was tied 2-2 at the time. The two teams held each other off of the scoreboard, and Game 2 ultimately went to overtime before Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe scored the game-winner 2:59 into the extra frame.
Bobrovsky stopped 21 of the 23 shots he faced to help the Panthers earn a massive win in Game 2. In the series thus far, the veteran goalie has tallied a 1.95 goals-against-average and a .905 save percentage in two starts.
