Former Flyer Sergei Bobrovsky ‘not surprised’ by the team’s success under John Tortorella

SUNRISE, Fla. — Sergei Bobrovsky, the Florida Panthers goaltender, said with a big smile and a chuckle that he can’t even remember himself as a Flyer.

That’s not a knock on the organization. It has been almost 12 years since he last donned an orange-and-black jersey. But it’s also because his priorities have changed drastically since he played in Philadelphia as an undrafted up-and-comer.

“I have a 2-year-old daughter, and away from hockey I try to spend time with her,” he said on Thursday in Toronto in advance of his third career All-Star Game. He played in 2017 and was named in 2015 but could not participate because of injury.

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“When your daughter is born, and you hold that fragile little human, very fragile, and it’s not going to survive without you, priorities start changing for sure.”

In that time with the Flyers across two seasons, Bobrovsky went 42-23-10 with a 2.73 goals-against average and .909 save percentage. Despite posting an impressive 28-13-8 record and a .915 save percentage as a rookie — he finished seventh in the Calder Trophy voting — he was shipped to the Columbus Blue Jackets for three draft picks in June 2012 with the Flyers focused on Ilya Bryzgalov.

“It’s definitely different. But the whole hockey is different, the whole everything,” Bobrovsky, 35, said when asked what has changed since he first suited up.

“Look at the speed, how it’s changed; speed goes higher and higher. You think there is no way it’s going to be faster, but then next season comes and it is faster. You have to polish your game, you have to be more accurate, you have to be more athletic.

“The rules, everything is created for offense. ... If you give guys a little bit of room and space, they’re going to put the puck right in that little hole where the puck fits. So you have to be really efficient.”

In his first year away from Philadelphia, Bobrovsky won the Vezina Trophy. He won another in 2017 with none other than John Tortorella as his coach in Columbus.

The pair stay in touch, with Bobrovsky texting him on holidays, and the goalie has impressed the Flyers coach with how his game has grown — notably in the postseason. For years Bobrovsky’s play dramatically dropped off once the Stanley Cup playoffs hit.

Last season, he wasn’t even the Panthers’ starting goalie at the beginning of their run to the Stanley Cup Finals, but he came in and never looked back.

“Bob and I had some ups and downs, as all players do I guess,” Tortorella said Monday. “We all go through that, never in a personal-type thing.

“But the thing that I’m so happy for him, the biggest thing was playoffs, right? Where was Bob during the playoffs? I asked him that in Columbus, [telling him], ‘We need you in the playoffs,’ “ Tortorella said.

“I watched him grow with us in Columbus and now some of the things he’s done during some series, he’s turned into a very important guy for this team. ... I’m thrilled for him because I grinded him, I was hard on him, went through a lot of ups and downs in Columbus, and I’ve watched him grow to be one of the best goalies in the league.”

This season, Bobrovsky is 23-10-2, is ranked sixth in the NHL in GAA (2.51), and tied for ninth in save percentage (.910) among goalies who have played a minimum of 25 games.

He is expected to be between the pipes for the Panthers on Tuesday against the Flyers (7 p.m. on NBCSP), and although he may not be watching too much hockey away from the rink, seeing the Flyers third in the Metropolitan Division is not shocking to him.

“When Torts is the head coach, I think they going to do well,” Bobrovsky said. “He’s that kind of coach who holds the locker room, holds the attention, and he takes the best out of every player. He’s very smart mentally, he knows the mind of the players very well. So I’m not surprised the Flyers are doing very well.”

Tortorella revealed that he may go back to 11 forwards and seven defensemen on Tuesday “because I think I have to.” He said that although Marc Staal will be the odd man out, he doesn’t want to sit one of the other seven because “I think they need to play.”