My Miami Heat are up 3-0 … and now my Florida Panthers are up 3-0 … what a magical time.
The goalie of the Florida Panthers, Sergei Bobrovsky (known to us Cats fans as simply ‘Bob’), has been extraordinary throughout the entirety of the 2023 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, being one of the main reasons why my Panthers have made this shocking (yet beautiful) postseason run.
Here in the Eastern Conference Final against the Carolina Hurricanes, it’s been the same story for Bobrovsky with success coming in wonderful flying Cardiac Cat colors. In fact, the success has been so great for Bob that he even shattered a playoff record in Game 3 that stood for a whole 63 years — 63 years! Over half a century!
And I couldn’t be more proud as a Florida Panthers fan … check it:
Panthers Sergei Bobrovsky sets record for the most saves within the first 3 games of a Conference Final or Stanley Cup Semi-Final series (126 & counting)
Previous record-holder was Johnny Bower (125 saves) for Maple Leafs vs Canadiens in the 1960 Stanley Cup Semi-Final.
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) May 23, 2023
Here are the highlights of Game 3 if you missed the action:
Man, all of this feels like a dream to me being a South Florida sports fan.
It’s just crazy. Not only have my Miami Heat and Florida Panthers gotten this deep to the Eastern Conference Finals, and with 3-0 leads at that, but both teams have literally rolled over everybody that they’ve played.
For the Heat, they annihilated the Milwaukee Bucks and New York Knicks, and are doing the same thing with the Boston Celtics (despite our laughable 3% chance that ESPN gave us), and then with the Panthers, they’ve dominated each the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs and are now walking all over the Carolina Hurricanes. Like … you think we would have to lose at some point, both teams are Cinderella stories after all, but nope, we just keep winning, and winning, and winning, and winning … and winning. (RELATED: LeBron James, LA Lakers Eliminated From Playoffs After 4-0 Sweep; Nikola Jokić, Denver Nuggets Advance To NBA Finals)
This has definitely been my favorite time as a sports fan … ever. Everything has been so magical.