Florida took a chance on the experienced Vezina winner over the goalie who carried them to the playoffs

The choice to start goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky in Game 4 was a bit of a bold move by Florida Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice.

While Bobrovsky was normally Florida's everyday goalie, playing in 20 of 22 games in February and March, he hadn't started a game in nearly a month.

After playing in Florida's 5-2 loss in Ottawa on March 27, Bobrovsky fell ill and was removed from the lineup to rest and recuperate.

At the time, the Panthers were in a tight race for one of the final playoff spots in the Eastern Conference.

Losing that night to the Senators left Florida three points back of the second Wild Card with eight games to go.

It was also the Panthers fourth consecutive loss, which left many feeling as though Florida's run at the postseason was going to come up short.

Enter Alex Lyon, who played arguably his best hockey of the year after taking Bobrovsky's place.

In Florida's most crucial games of the season, with the playoffs on the line, Lyon delivered where Bob had not.

During the final eight games of the season, Lyon went 6-1-1 with a .942 save percentage and 1.87 goals against average.

He earned the right to patrol Florida's goal crease when the Panthers opened their first round playoff series with the league-best Boston Bruins.

Lyon held his own during the three postseason games he played. He wasn't perfect, allowing a couple goals that probably should not have gone in, but overall his play was solid, particularly on a plethora of odd-man rush opportunities the Bruins generated.

The 30-year-old was locked in.

Of Florida's two goaltending options, Lyon had seemingly proven himself to be the safer bet.

After the Panthers Game 3 loss, however, Head Coach Paul Maurice did not agree.

"Alex has run long and hard, and there's a mental and physical fatigue that comes with that," Maurice said of his decision to start Bobrovsky. "With two days off (coming up), we wanted to put what we thought would be the freshest goalie into the net."

No arguments there. Bob was definitely fresh and well rested, but would three weeks of practice be enough to shake off any rust?

Additionally, Bobrovsky wasn't exactly setting the world on fire when he became ill in late March.

Over his last seven starts of the season, Bob surrendered four or more goals five times.

He went 3-3-1 in those seven games, which is respectable, but his stats were far from pleasing. Bob held a 3.86 goals against average and a .870 save percentage during that stretch.

Does Bobrovsky's game have a potentially higher ceiling than what Lyon brings to the table? Sure.

Bob has two Vezina Trophy wins under his belt, and when he's on, he can be one of the best goalies in the league.

The problem is, the games in which Bobrovsky has played at that level with the Panthers have been few and far between.

The chances of Bob stealing a game may be historically higher than Lyon, leading to the high-risk, high-reward decision of starting Bobrovsky in Game 4.

To his credit, Bob did make several excellent saves in the early stages of the game, but the cracks in his armor became more apparent as the game pressed on.

One of the biggest differences in Florida's two goaltenders is their rebound control.

With Lyon, it's one of the best areas of his game. Pucks that he can't absorb or cover for a whistle will often find their way to the corner, off the glass or simply away from danger.

For Bobrovsky, rebounds are an area he's struggled with during his time with the Panthers.

Maurice acknowledged it when asked to assess Bob's Game 4 performance, but did it while bringing attention to Florida's trouble with getting to some of those second chance opportunities.

"He was good," Maurice said. "He made two big saves on the first goal, he made another two or three good saves, and then he was finding those pucks around the net were a challenge for us."

According to Natural Stat Trick, Bobrovsky gave up 13 rebound attempts against during Game 4, whereas Lyon had 11 total in Games 1 through 3.

At the end of the day, the reasoning behind starting Bobrovsky is understandable.

He could've shown up on top of his game and carried the Panthers to an improbable string of success against the Presidents' Trophy winners.

That didn't happen, though.

Florida got the same from Bob that they've seen over the past four seasons.

Some very bright flashes of greatness mixed in with an overall mediocre performance.