The elephant in the room that no one wants to discuss is Sergei Bobrovsky's porous play through the first two games of the series.
It's an awkward tight rope to walk. Without him, the Jackets would be nowhere near the playoffs. After all, he's the likely Vezina winner this season after leading the league with a .931 save percentage and 2.06 goals-against average.
The Stanley Cup Playoffs have been another story, altogether for the star goalie.
Bobrovsky is dead last among playoff goaltenders with a 3.10 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage. And he's surrendering goals and making the kind of mistakes that he's made a career out of avoiding.
He was hung out to dry by his defense for two goals in Game 1, but those are stops he still routinely makes.
Game 2 was nothing short of the struggle bus for Bobrovsky. After the Blue Jackets once again dominated the first period of play, an uncharacteristic turnover by the goalie put the Pens on the board first.
Bobrovsky would surrender two more goals in Game 2 that were probably stops he makes during the regular season.
Compounding matters is the fact that Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who was not even expected to play in this series until Matt Murray suffered an injury prior to Game 1, has been outstanding. Fleury has an incredible .972 save percentage and a 1.00 goals-against average through the first two games.
It's safe to say that nobody expected Fleury to thoroughly outplay Bobrovsky in this series.
This isn't as if Bobrovsky has lost all of his confidence here. He has played on the highest stages multiple times in his career. He has played in the Olympics, World Cup of Hockey and World Championships. What is the first round of the playoffs to him?
The blame for the first two losses have to go somewhere and when your goaltender isn't playing up to his normal standard, it is natural to blame your net minder. You're not going to win many games when your team is scoring one goal but by the same token, Bobrovsky has to be much bettter to give his team a chance.
Hockey is a game of bounces and caroms that don't make a lot of sense. All any goalie can do is attempt to put yourself in the right position and hope the puck ends up in your pads or glove.
Anomalies and outliers are part of sports.. Recency bias will cloud your judgment if you let it and many narratives are built off of those fleeting thoughts. Successful coaches know the capabilities of their team and in the case of John Tortorella, he knows Bobrovsky is better than what he has seen from him.
Now it's up to Bobrovsky to respond.
