TORONTO — The best quote about Sergei Bobrovsky’s play at the World Cup of Hockey came from teammate Nikita Zaitsev, who said the Russian goalie’s been “the most important part to our team.”
The worst quote might have come from Bobrovsky’s head coach. Following Thursday's 21-save shutout against Finland, a win which qualified Russia for the semifinals, Oleg Znarok said, “It is an ice hockey game and he did block. All goalies do that — block shots.”
Maybe something was lost in translation. Or maybe Znarok has been so spoiled by watching Bobrovsky play that he forgot that most other goalies don’t usually spend the entire game standing on their heads making highlight-reel saves.