Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Posted: 4:52 p.m.
By Sarah BaickerCSNPhilly.com
Since 1986, only three rookie goaltenders have carried their teams to Stanley Cup victories.
Patrick Roy, Antti Niemi and Cam Ward are the sole members of the exclusive club of rookie goalies who have won the Cup in the past 25 years. And all three of them had American Hockey League experience before their NHL debutsNiemi even played three games with the Chicago Blackhawks before his first full season.
To say that Sergei Bobrovsky, the 22-year-old rookie named the Flyers playoff starter last week, has a tall task ahead of him is most certainly an understatement. Bobrovsky, after all, bypassed the North American games minor leagues entirely, arriving in Philadelphia directly from Russias KHL.
But Bobrovskys story is far from typical. He wasnt even supposed to spend the entire season with the Flyershe just impressed coaches and teammates so much from the beginning that it was impossible to send him to the AHL. And its that reason the Flyers believe that Bob (or Bobs, as hes nicknamed himself) has a chance to join those three aforementioned Cup-winners.
Bob has the skill, he has the mental makeup that that is possible, said Jeff Reese, the Flyers goaltending coach. He just needs to get off to a good start and get his confidence and go from there.
And the Flyers believe that Bobrovsky will get off to a strong start Thursday against the Buffalo Sabres, despite his ugly outing in the teams last regular-season game. Bobrovsky was pulled Saturday in the first period against the New York Islanders after allowing three goals on just eight shots.
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That game was the culmination, in a way, of a rocky last few weeks for Bobrovsky. So rocky, in fact, that coach Peter Laviolette was asked to reconfirm after Saturdays game that Bob was still, in fact, the teams starting goalie.
I think sometimes when you try too hard, it works against you, Reese said. I think thats maybe what Bob was trying to do. Not that he played poorly, but if you really want something bad, theres a fine line there. Thats what I noticed in his play a little bit. He was really trying hard. But the good news is, he really wanted to play in the playoffs, and hell be playing in the playoffs.
The team that hell be facing will pose a big challenge, too. Bobrovsky was 2-2 against Buffalo this season, posting a 3.26 GAA and .906 save percentage. And the Sabres were one of the NHLs hottest teams during the last few weeks of the season, going 7-1-2 over their final 10 games.
On the surface, of course, it seems like the Sabres have the clear goalie advantage. Ryan Miller is easily one of the best goaltenders to reach the postseason this year, and his five regular-season shutouts, 34 wins and nine years of NHL experience make him a definite threat to the Flyers goal scorers.
But in reality, Miller and Bobrovsky have extremely similar numbers this year. Both have a 2.59 goals-against average, and the difference in their save percentages is literally one thousandth of a point: .916 for Miller, .915 for Bobrovsky.
The deciding factor in this playoff series could simply come down to pressure, and how each netminder handles the high-stress playoff environment.
So how much more difficult is Bobrovskys task, given that Miller has 40 NHL playoff games under his belt, but Bob has yet to appear in one?
I almost think its less, Reese said. Hes just going to go out there and try to stop the puck. Thats the way I feelI think its actually an advantage.
Not long ago, a number of Flyers players expressed concern about Bobrovskys puckhandling skills, leading to a fairly widespread belief that Brian Boucher was poised to become the teams playoff starting goalie. Though Reese alleged the issue was blown out of proportion at the time, Bobs puckhandling has improved in recent weeks, according to his teammates.
Any time he comes out and plays the puck, you need to be confident in what hes doing with it, Matt Carle said. I think hes gotten 100 times better since the beginning of the year and I think his confidence has gone up tremendously with coming out and stopping it and making sure were not going to get run in the corner.
Its been a big help for us as D-men, but its still a work in progress. I dont think thats ever going to be perfect. Even a guy like Martin Brodeur, hes still making mistakes out there when he comes out and plays the puck.
Boucher, instead, will back-up Bobrovsky in Game 1. He stopped shy of calling Bobrovskys inexperience a benefitbut also said Bobs last few games have had a playoff-like feel, which counts for something.
I think down the stretch here, these last few games, you get the sense of what playoff hockeys like, Boucher said. He played those games. I think hell feel that. For as much as the intensity is ramped up, you as a person are ramped up, too.
Boucher would know. Though he fell shy of a Stanley Cup Final berth in his first year in the NHL, he helped the Flyers reach the Eastern Conference finals in his rookie season, 1999-00, though the team lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils in seven games.
Back then, Boucher had a veteran goalie to help ease him into life in the National Hockey League: John Vanbiesbrouck. Boucher has assumed that role with Bobrovsky, which, according to Reese, has been critical to Bobrovskys development.
He knows that theres support there for him, and thats an important thing, Reese said. Its important for a young guy.Ill tell him certain things, but sometimes it means a lot more coming from a guy whos actually out there on the ice with him.
Theres a language barrier, sure, but the veteran skaters out on the ice with Bobrovsky have definitely had advice for their young netminder.
Just play your game, said Sean ODonnell, when asked what advice he had for Bobrovsky. Thats the one thing in the playoffs you need to do to be successful: play it as well as you can, dont try to do too much.
Just make sure youre pulling your weight. Everybodys in the NHL for a reason.
E-mail Sarah Baicker at sbaicker@comcastsportsnet.com
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