Sergei Bobrovsky is uncertain if he will play for the Florida Panthers in their season opener against the Chicago Blackhawks at BB&T Center on Sunday (7:00 PM ET; NHLN, TVAS, SN, FS-F, NBCSCH, NHL.TV).
The goalkeeper, who skated for the first time in training camp on Wednesday, had been unfit to train since the beginning of the camp, said coach Joel Quenneville.
“It’s absolutely great to be back with the guys to get to work, see the puck and be with my teammates,” said Bobrovsky. “It’s great to be back and I felt good, so I need a few more workouts and I’m ready to go.”
Bobrovsky said he will skate on Thursday, but the Panthers will not have full team training until Friday. They will practice on Saturday before playing on Sunday.
Florida was to start the season with back-to-back home games against the Dallas Stars on Thursday and Friday, but they were postponed due to COVID-19 issues related to the Stars.
“Good to see him again,” Quenneville said of Bobrovsky. He felt fine out there. He did a lot of drills, took almost every shot at his end. So he had a good day at work. We’ll see him come in tomorrow and give presents, and talk to our goalkeeper. I think we have one here. “He will dictate to us in the next few days whether Sunday is an option or not.”
If Bobrovsky isn’t playing, Chris Driedger or Sam Montembeault probably will start. Driedger was 7-2-1 with an average of 2.05 goals against, a save percentage of 0.938 and one shutout in 12 games (11 starts) last season. Montembeault was 5-5-1 with a 3.34 GAA and .890 save percentage in 14 games (nine starts).
Bobrovsky said he’s limited himself to light stretching for the past week and a half. Wednesday he spent almost two hours on the ice.
“It’s important to feel the net, feel the ice, feel the equipment on your body, see the puck, see the traffic,” said Bobrovsky. “It was a great workout. I saw straight shots, 3v2 in zone stuff, all different types of activity in front of me. It was great. I worked a little extra on the fundamentals too. It was great exercise for me. me. “
Bobrovsky wants to come back after last season, his first with the Panthers after signing a seven-year deal on July 1, 2019. He was 23-19-6 with a 3.23 GAA and a service percentage of 0.900 in 50 games (49 starts).
It was the highest GAA and lowest serve rate he has had in any of his nine NHL seasons in which he played at least 30 games.
“‘Bob’ had a really good off season,” said Quenneville. “I know last year’s expectations were high, and when you evaluate Bob’s contribution or season, I thought he was adapting well to what needs to be tackled or worked on. I think he got it right done to put themselves in the right place mentally, physically.
“A little setback here, but I think he’s more than excited to get the season going and do what he needs to do. He has approached it the right way and I think he has balanced expectations with how to play in the net. a solid teammate and a big contributor to the success of the team is what he wants to do. We imagine he’s a big part of it. “