“I was shocked”. Bobrovsky’s partner in Florida talks about the Russian goalkeeper’s spectacular save

Sergei Bobrovsky / Photo: © Joel Auerbach / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad said that he was delighted with the actions of Russian goalkeeper Sergei Bobrovsky in the NHL playoff match with Tampa.

The Panthers won 3-2 (OT) on Tuesday to take a 2-0 series lead. With the score 2:2, Bobrovsky parried a shot from Tampa defender Matt Dumba while facing his own goal; the spectacular save was widely shared across social networks overseas.

“I watched what was happening from the bench, and I was shocked, it was incredible,” the official NHL website quotes Ekblad as saying.

Bobrovsky himself stated that he simply wanted to block the goal as much as possible, and he succeeded.

“I rushed at the gate, trying to close it as much as possible, and I succeeded. This is a good victory for us, we have a great team and a good set of players,” the Russian said after the match.

In total, Bobrovsky stopped 21 of 23 shots during the match and was recognized as the second star after forward Carter Verhaeghe, who scored the winning goal in overtime.

The teams will play the third match of the series in Tampa on April 25.