Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky showed the Columbus Blue Jackets that he could be a standout net-minder during the regular season, but to take that next step in his professional career, there must be marked improved in the playoffs.
In just five postseason games against the Pittsburgh Penguins this year, Bobrovsky’s goals against average from the regular season nearly doubled and his save percentage dropped to .882.
“The regular season’s great, but the playoffs are what counts,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. “Bob is not that experienced in the playoffs, hasn’t played a lot of games in the playoffs. He is in the same type of process with some of our other guys that just need to be better in the playoffs.
“It’s not singling out Bob, but that position is a very unique position in our game. There’s a number of guys that as we watched them here in a series full of momentum swings, some guys stood in there, and some guys need to go through the process, and Bob is certainly one of them.”
In his seventh NHL campaign, Bobrovsky earned his second All-Star honor after a stellar opening three months to the season.
In his first 34 starts for the Blue Jackets, Bobrovsky stopped 894 of the 960 shots sent in on net. He had a 2.00 goals against average, .931 save percentage and three shutouts over 1,980 minutes of ice time. Bobrovsky started the year with a 26-6-0-2 record.
The NHL’s Player of the Month for December, Bobrovsky led the Blue Jackets to a perfect 12-0 slate and was in goal for Columbus’ 16-game winning streak, the best in franchise history and second-hottest run in league annals.
In those December games, Bobrovsky allowed just 21 goals on 343 shots, with 322 saves and a .939 save percentage.
For the entire season, Bobrovsky posted a 41-17-5 record in 63 games with a 2.06 goals against average, seven shutouts and .931 save percentage, which helped him become a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, given annually to the NHL’s best goaltender.
Bobrovsky previously won the Vezina Trophy following the 2012-2013 season.
However, in the postseason, Bobrovsky went 1-4 with 20 goals allowed.
“I think he can do it,” Tortorella said of Bobrovsky carrying regular-season success into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. “Bob had a great year. Bob had a great regular season. Again, I say regular season. He handled himself well in the offseason, got himself physically set.”
But to Tortorella, physicality is the smaller part of the game when it comes to the postseason.
“You get to the playoffs, the physical stuff is kind of out of the way,” Tortorella said. “It’s the mental part of it, and I think Bob leads the way with a number of our guys in improving in the mental part of it, the mental toughness or however you can get yourself ready to be that guy in the playoffs. That’s what defines you as a player.
“That’s all people talk about when you’re retired, how you handled this series, that series, how many Cups you have, and that’s what it’s all about. The regular season is the grind, and it’s a hard grind to get in to shine or struggle. I think Bob needs to find his way, and I’m fully confident that he will because I watched how he improved from where he was two years ago to what he did this year. I’m confident that he can get there.”
