SUNRISE, Fla. — Sergei Bobrovsky, mired in the midst of arguably the worst season of his Hall of Fame hockey career, gave a reminder of just how good he can be on Thursday.

The Florida Panthers’ veteran goaltender made big save after big save against the Columbus Blue Jackets, finishing with 30 saves (including 11 on high-danger shots) and doing everything he could to give his team a chance.

The Panthers repaid him with a 2-1 overtime win at Amerant Bank Arena, with Sam Bennett tying the game 1:28 into the third period on the power play and Sam Reinhart scoring the game-winner on the man advantage 2:19 into overtime.

And afterward, Bobrovsky, playing out the final month of his seven-year, $70 million contract, made it clear what he hopes the future holds for him.

“I want to be here,” Bobrovsky said postgame. “I love the team. I love the fans. I love the organization. I love the guys. I love everything. Yeah, I want to stay here.”

Whether Bobrovsky would still be here right now was up in the air right up until the NHL’s trade deadline last Friday. The rumor mill churned with reports about whether Florida would deal the netminder considering how unlikely it is that the Panthers will make the Stanley Cup playoffs this season.

But a worthy offer never came. Bobrovsky didn’t go anywhere. And Florida has an opportunity to make sure he doesn’t leave if the team and Bobrovsky’s camp can come to terms on a new deal.

“Sergei is a part of our franchise, part of our core,” Panthers president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Zito said after the trade deadline, “and we want to try to keep him.”

Now, let’s be clear: The Panthers weren’t shopping Bobrovsky at the deadline, even with his — and the team’s — overall subpar performance on the season. They did listen to offers on their impending unrestricted free agents — among whom Bobrovksy is one — but didn’t necessarily feel a need to ship anyone off if the price wasn’t right.

Even at that, Panthers coach Paul Maurice remains adamant all the trade rumors were blown out of proportion in the first place.

“It’s just how this works,” Maurice said postgame. “Somebody up in Canada decided that Sergei would make a great goaltender as part of their tandem. That catches fire. But, I mean, you got to look at it from the Gretzky point of view. Wayne Gretzky got traded. That means anybody can get traded. But there was no nobody in our group was going to get rid of Bob. Everybody in Canada said, ‘Hey, we need Bob. It would have been good.’ That, I think, took a life in its own. That had nothing to do with the Florida Panthers.”

The Panthers know how integral he is to their success. The 37-year-old netminder anchored Florida’s runs to the Stanley Cup Final each of the past three years, including winning back-to-back championships the past two seasons. He logged six combined shutouts in those three postseason runs.

And even during a statistically poor season — one in which he has a .878 save percentage and 3.03 goals against average — Bobrovsky has shown signs that his dominant self is still there. He is one of just eight goaltenders in the NHL this season with at least three shutouts. He’s two wins shy of tying Curtis Joseph for seventh-most all-time in NHL history (454).

His past two starts since the trade deadline passed were vintage Bobrovsky. He stopped 28 of 29 shots on Friday against the Detroit Red Wings, hours after learning that he was staying with the team through at least the rest of the season.

And then he turned aside 30 of 31 shots he faced on Thursday against Columbus, including the first 20 of the game — highlighted by a sprawling pad save on Kirill Marchenko during a Blue Jackets power play — before Columbus opened scoring on an Adam Fantili breakaway.

Bobrovsky didn’t let another shot get past him, and Florida rallied from there for its third consecutive win, one that moves its record to 33-29-3 and keeps the team’s thin hopes of making the playoffs alive (the Panthers, at 69 points, are nine points back of the Boston Bruins for the Eastern Confernece’s final playoff spot with 17 games left).

“Vintage is a good word to say,” Reinhart said. “We know what he’s capable of in here, and we believe he’s got plenty left in the tank. His performance like that, that gives us that belief.”

Added Bennett: “Bobby stood on his head all night. He was really the spark all game.”

The Panthers — and Bobrovsky — hope that spark stays lit in South Florida for at least a few more years.

©2026 Miami Herald. Visit at miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.