Maurice has been making savvy choices with his goaltenders, switching them at appropriate times.
Whatever choice Maurice makes for Game 3, it will be the best choice. It is now up to Paul to get Florida back into this… much like he did against Boston and willed the team into the playoffs.
Have faith, non-believers!
I forgot what your narrative was for the series victory over the historic 65-win Boston Bruins, with Bob going .891. Can you remind me again?
I ask because .891 goaltending isn’t what a normal person without a vendetta would call “insanely lucky goaltending”.
Funny thing about tiny samples is how susceptible they are to wild swings.
Bobrovsky started 4 games against the Bruins. 1 was great, 1 was good, 2 were bad. He went 3-1:
- Game 1 (series game 4 ): Bad Bob. 5 GA on 30 shots = .833. Florida lost 6-2, went down 3-1 in the series. It's all over...or is it?
- Game 2 (series game 5): Great Bob! 3 GA on 47 shots = .936, Florida won 4-3 in OT. Ullmark 4ga/25shots = .840 saved (?) the day for Florida. Gosh! What did Maurice say to Bob? Or Ullmark?
- Game 3 (series game 6): Bad Bob. 5 GA on 34 shots = .853. Florida won 7-5. Worse-Ulmark would like a word: 6 GA on 32 shots = .813 - Linus wins the goalie race to the bottom and the series is tied. Obviously Paul Maurice's genius at work...
- Game 4 (series game 7): Good Bob! 3 GA on 36 shots = .917. Florida won 4-3 in OT. (Bad) Swayman rides to the rescue giving up 4 GA on 31 shots = .871.
And after that, Bob went on an unbelievable run.
Until running into Vegas, Bob's worst single game SV% was a .917. His in game SV%s for the Toronto and Carolina series: .944 .946 .917 .920 .962 .969 .974 1.000 .923. A pretty good stretch! .954 overall. 16 goals against in 9 games. 1.50 GAA. Impressive coaching.
But then came a 10 game break for the Panthers...and regression to the mean comes for everyone, eventually.
Also, please note Florida's flaccid 25 shot performance in Game 5 facing elimination. Outshot 47-25 and won the game. Now THAT'S what I call good coaching!
This is the NHL. ALL the coaches at this level are pretty damn good at their jobs. ALL the players have had years and years of hockey experience and need little in the way of real coaching. If you make a coaching change, it's not really about getting rid of a garbage coach and bringing in a genius. You aren't going from a 20% impact to a 30% impact by making a coaching change. You're going from a 2% to a 3% impact if that. It's about changing the voice...shaking up the mix...whatever other intangible thing you can think of. Most coaches don't last 5 years in their job let alone 8 or 9. It was beyond time for a change here. It just would have been better if the move had been more of a statement move by the org rather than the weak-sauce situation that did occur with the coach himself making the move.
