The Stanley Cup final goalie matchup: Bobrovsky and Skinner, matching wits once again

FORT LAUDERDALE Fla AP The only times that Sergei Bobrovsky spent any time really reflecting on winning the Stanley Cup were the obvious moments The on-ice celebration that night The day of the parade Things like that Otherwise he did what he invariably does He looked at what was next It is a simple approach and it works best for the Florida goaltender who is about to play in the Stanley Cup Final for a third consecutive season At and showing absolutely no sign of slowing down Bobrovsky s save percentage in these playoffs is higher than what he posted a year ago on the way to the title while his goals-against average is lower And in this title series he ll likely be matching goalie wits with Stuart Skinner again the Edmonton netminder who was in goal for last year s Stanley Cup Final when Florida topped the Oilers in a seven-game classic Meeting is in Edmonton on Wednesday night You enjoy the moment and savor the moment Bobrovsky disclosed You re not trying to cut yourself off thinking about what s ahead or what s happened in the past So you re just trying to take advantage of the opportunity again It s a great opportunity There s only two teams left and we re one of them and we have an opportunity to win it all It s an exciting time and I want to enjoy every bit of it Bobrovsky has been the only goalie for Florida in these playoffs For Edmonton it was a different story Skinner had the starter job going into the postseason then lost it to Calvin Pickard then got it back The Oilers needed wins to get to the final obviously Skinner got six of those wins Pickard got the other six But Skinner before getting replaced in the playoffs just didn t have the numbers he has now He had a GAA and an save percentage in his first six playoff appearances he had a GAA and a save percentage in the last four appearances all of them wins over Dallas in the West final He seemed more confident Skinner announced that wasn t really the matter I felt confident before Skinner stated That s the life of being a goaltender That noted Skinner did acknowledge that there was a different feel to those games against Dallas It s ebbs and flows Skinner commented You can feel it right away Sometimes you don t feel it right away I mean I wish I felt it all the time Bobrovsky has almost made a career out of trying to avoid the ebbs and flows The Panthers have put complete trust in him and what he requirements to do to be ready Panthers coach Paul Maurice often says and he isn t kidding that he doesn t coach Bobrovsky Robb Tallas is Florida s goaltender coach he works with Bobrovsky and Maurice s job is to say hello and little else Bobrovsky rewards that trust I ve revealed so a multitude of times I m fortunate with the crew that I have Bobrovsky reported The guys the management the coaches The coaches allow me to do my things which is vital especially at my age To have the room to do the things that I need and I believe I appreciate everything where I am who s around me It s a blessing and I appreciate it AP NHL playoffs https apnews com hub stanley-cup and https apnews com hub nhl Source