I gotta say this, it’s a gut feel I’ve had since Bob started here. The feeling got better last year and the year before in stretches, but not constantly.
I’ve never felt confident and secure that Bob won’t let in one or two stinkers every game he plays, especially on the first 5-10 shots. Sometimes he doesn’t, but (without stats to prove anything) my sense is that mostly he does stink it up in the early going. If that’s true, the other team’s game plan is obvious, get shots on goal while crowding the net.
Usually Bob gets better as the game wears on, so the other team is best off getting a couple early, they’ll be easy ones, and then hope to pot one or two more, shooting for fourgoalski. That’s the way to beat the Panthers IMO.
ETA: I’m sure someone’s gonna tell me that Bob could do nothing to stop the first two. I disagree. He was too deep in the net on Laine’s shot. He should know that Patty ain’t passing the f***ing puck when he gets it there on PP, so Bob shoulda moved up. And on Caufield’s shot Bob was way too slow to move to make himself square. It was entirely a stoppable shot. Yeah, the team sucked in front of him but he sucked too. That’s my point.