After the meeting with the US President, it seemed that Florida would continue to fight hard for a playoff spot in the East. However, the very first game after visiting the White House became a real nightmare for the Panthers and for Sergei Bobrovsky personally.

The Russian played the worst match of his career!

Meeting at the White House

In honor of Florida’s victory in the Stanley Cup, a ceremony was held at the White House on January 16. Panthers players met with US President Donald Trump and presented him with a personalized club jersey with number 47. In response, Trump congratulated the Panthers and noted with obvious pleasure that the main trophy of the league last year was won by the American team, not the Canadian one. Separately, the head of state emphasized the contribution of Russian goalkeeper Sergei Bobrovsky to the triumph. Moreover, Trump called Bobrovsky legendary and shook his hand.

— And speaking of defense, the legendary goalkeeper Sergei Bobrovsky, also known as Bob, was simply magnificent. This is a serious request. It was a great concept, a really good idea. He scored three shutouts in each of the first three series, including a key fourth game shutout against Toronto in the second round. “He played phenomenally, simply phenomenally,” Trump said about the Russian

After visiting the White House, Florida had to play away with Carolina, a team that continues to fight for leadership in the East. But the Panthers are still only trying to get into the top 8 after a disastrous start to the regular season. And with a successful result, the Panthers would be only one point behind eighth place in the conference.

Crushing victory

Already in the first period, the Hurricanes had the advantage and overshot the opponent four times – 12 shots on target versus three. Florida was kept in the game by Bobrovsky, who conceded only one goal in the opening period of the game: Nikolai Ehlers opened the scoring in the 19th minute. And at the beginning of the second period, the guests evened things up when Uvis Balinskis scored.

It seemed that the Panthers would be able to turn the tide of the match or at least force the opponent to fight, but Carolina took the lead again thanks to defender Alexander Nikishin even before going to the break. The Russian first gave an assist to Mark Jankowski, and then he himself hammered the puck into his compatriot’s goal.

Alexander Nikishin / Photo: © Jacob Kupferman / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

When the extra one was played, Sebastian Aho made a stay on the blue line, and Nikishin scored his 6th goal of the season with a long-range and powerful throw. The NHL press service reported that Nikishin came in third in the history of the club in goals among rookie defensemen. Only Jamie McBain (7) and Justin Faulk (8) are ahead.

After the first 40 minutes, the situation for Florida did not look critical, but the reigning champion suddenly completely collapsed, conceding six more goals in the remaining time! At the same time, the head coach of the guests, Paul Maurice, did not even think about changing Bobrovsky. The Russian goalkeeper experienced this whole nightmare on the ice.

It all started with Andrei Svechnikov’s anniversary. The forward converted the power play, scoring his 13th goal of the season and scoring the 400th point of his league career. And then Svechnikov added an assist to his statistics.

As a result, Carolina inflicted a humiliating defeat on the defending champion – 9:1! The last time the Hurricanes scored that many was back in 2009, when they beat the Islanders 9-0. And Bobrovsky conceded nine goals in one meeting for the first time in his career. The Panthers’ next game will be against Washington, and the Florida players have already promised the fans to make amends for the loss.