'We Need To Help Out Bob': Sergei Bobrovsky Must Wait Longer For First Win, Kept Maple Leafs Alive In Shootout Loss To Golden Knights

The Toronto Maple Leafs' season record becomes 2-2-1 following a 4-3 shootout loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday in their first road game of the year.

Toronto started hot, earning an early 3-0 lead, but Vegas came back with three unanswered goals of their own. Through the Golden Knights' surge, Maple Leafs goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky kept his team in the fight.

Ultimately, the veteran netminder was the reason the Leafs were able to force the game past regulation and accumulate a point against last season's Stanley Cup finalist.

"He got us a point for the most part," Leafs coach Jim Hiller said after the game. "He gave us a chance to win, and ultimately, in the end, he probably got us a point, right? So, that's what great goalies do. The nights when you're off a little bit, like we were in the second, particularly, he was able to hold it for us. So, yeah, I mean, you need those saves. They could have got three or four, and the game's over. So, important for him."

Bobrovsky ended up facing 43 shots in regulation and overtime, and stopped 40 of them. That saw him register a .930 save percentage, which is easily his best performance of his three starts so far this year.

However, despite his at-times heroic outing, the 38-year-old is still looking for his first win since joining the Maple Leafs.

"You know, it is what it is," Bobrovsky said after the hist third game of the season. "Obviously, you know, you play, you put the gear on, you want to win every game. But it's, we got to play good players against us. And everybody works hard. So we just keep grinding, keep chipping away one moment at a time, and we keep building."

"We need to be better and help out Bob," defenseman Chris Tanev said post-game. "He was great. Some huge saves in the second when things sort of got off-kilter a bit. He gave us a chance to win in overtime and shootout. So obviously we want to get a win for him badly. So we got to learn from what we did today and then get better."

The Maple Leafs needed to kill off four Golden Knights power plays and came out with a perfect shorthanded record, killing 14 of 15 penalties in the opening five games of the season. Bobrovsky came up big in those instances at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday.

"I mean, good for the most part," Tanev said of the team's penalty kill. "We had that one really long shift for Bob made an amazing save and bailed us out, but for the most part, good. We still have some areas where we want to work on, but against a really good power play, we'll take that."

Toronto really needed to weather the storm in the second period. The Golden Knights got one goal back late in the third period, and scored another two in the second. That's without mentioning Vegas' 21 shots on goal in that middle frame, making Bobrovsky the busiest of the two goaltenders in this contest.

"That was a tough second period, no matter how you slice it," Hiller admitted. "But I give the guys credit. After two, in fact, we survived with, you know, in large part due to Bob."

"They had the push," Bobrovsky said. "We stood strong. There will be some periods like that, so it's okay. But again, it's a big point, an important point. I know it's a lot like the losers lose, but it's still, you know, it's a big point."

Toronto's next game comes on Saturday against the Colorado Avalanche in the second tilt of this three-game road trip. Judging by the rotation of goaltenders so far for the Leafs, Anthony Stolarz may get the start in Denver.

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