If there was one message from Columbus Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella during his season wrap-up press conference today, it was this – the true test of a player and an organization is what happens in the postseason.
If there was one stat that summed up goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky’s playoff performance, it was that his regular-season save percentage dropped from a league-best .931 to .882 in the five-game series loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Put one and one together and there’s an obvious conclusion – that Bobrovsky’s performance simply wasn’t good enough for a team that rode its likely Vezina-winning goaltender to the most points in franchise history.
Tortorella wasn’t going to dance around that fact, either, making it clear the team needed more out of the player manning the most important position on the ice this postseason.
“The regular season is great, but playoffs is what counts,” Tortorella said. “Listen, Bob isn’t that experienced in the playoffs, either. He hasn’t played a lot of games in the playoffs. He is in the same type of process with some of our other guys that he just needs to be better in the playoffs.
“It’s not singling out Bob, but that position is a very unique position in our game. There’s a number of guys as we watched them here in a series full of momentum swings, some guys stood in there. Some guys need to improve and go through the process. Bob is certainly one of them.”
With 18 career playoff games under his belt – 11 with the Blue Jackets – Bobrovsky’s numbers show a significant dip from his regular-season statistics. In all, he’s 3-10 with a 3.63 goals-against average, .887 save percentage and a quality start percentage of 23.1 percent.
In this season’s postseason action, his goals saved above average number was minus-7.43 after he led the NHL in the regular season at 33.45. Perhaps his biggest error was misplaying the puck behind his own net with the Jackets off to a good start in Game 2, leading directly to Pittsburgh's opening goal in a 4-1 final.
After the series, the Novokuznetsk, Russia, native was downcast.
“It’s just a disappointing feeling,” he said. “They got good players, a good team. They beat me. We’ll learn from it and move on.”
Bobrovsky has shown the ability to honestly assess his game and make strides from there. After last year’s injury-plagued season produced the worst numbers of his Blue Jackets career – a 2.75 GAA and .908 save percentage in 37 games – he changed up his workout routine and dropped 17 pounds, a move that helped protect what had been a balky groin and also seemed to help his quickness throughout the year.
A year from now, if the Blue Jackets find themselves where they want to be – again in playoff contention – the questions about Bobrovsky’s performance in the postseason will likely come again. But Tortorella sees a player dedicated to his craft that can overcome those concerns.
“I think he can do it,” Tortorella said. “I think Bob had a great year. Bob had a great regular season – again, I say regular season. He handled himself well in the offseason, got himself physically set. You get to the playoffs, the physical stuff is out of the way. It’s the mental part of it, and I think Bob leads the way with a number of our guys in improving in the mental part of it, the mental toughness, however you can get yourself ready to be that guy in the playoffs.
“That’s what defines you as a player. That’s all people talk about when you’re retired – how you handled that series, this series, how many Cups you have. That’s what it’s all about. Regular season is a grind and it’s a hard grind to get in to shine or struggle. I think Bob needs to try to find his way, and I’m fully confident he’s going to because I watched how he improved from where he was two years ago to what he did this year. I am confident he can get there.”
