Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 35: Bobrovsky’s 32-save shutout puts Panthers one win away from Stanley Cup Final

Later in the period, Aleksander Barkov went to the dressing room, apparently with an injury. While no one knew for sure what caused it or what was the injury, this was a hit he took in his last shift, and he did not return for the rest of the game.

The Canes kept pushing for that first goal in the second period, particularly Sebastian Aho, who had at least five scoring chances himself through the first half of the game.

But, scoring chances don’t always guarantee goals, and unfortunately for the Canes, it was the Panthers that finally got on the board during their second power play of the game. Matthew Tkachuk set up Sam Reinhart in the slot, and Reinhart made no mistake to give the Panthers the 1-0 lead.

And as the Canes keep trying to get on the board, they just couldn’t buy a goal. Or perhaps the fact is that Bobrovsky is just that good right now.

When it was all said and done, the Canes just couldn't get past him. The Carolina dominated play in the third, but Bobrovsky was on another level and they simply couldn’t beat him. It didn’t help their case either that they were hemmed in their own zone a few times late in the period, killing quite a bit of time.

With that, the Panthers walked away with a 1-0 win to take a 3-0 series lead, and are on the verge of their first Stanley Cup Final since 1996. The game was all Bobrovsky, as he stopped all 32 shots he faced to get his first career playoff shutout, and he has now stopped 67 consecutive shots going back to Jalen Chatfield’s first-period goal in Game 2. It was needed for the win, as the Canes had all the pressure, outshooting the Panthers 32-17, and had a 73.56% 5v5 shot attempt share, a 76.68% 5v5 scoring chance share, and a 78.67% 5v5 expected goal share in the game.