Even for by their own wild and wonderful standards, NHL goalies are having themselves a year.
By now, we’re pretty accustomed to the notion that, from one season to the next, some of the names that appear in good standing across various statistical categories will stand out as big surprises. And on the weekend the Minnesota Wild honoured Marc-André Fleury for playing 1,000 games and passing Patrick Roy for No. 2 on the all-time wins list, we also got a snapshot of just how topsy-turvy this crease campaign has been.
Few teams have been linked more to goalie upgrades in trade rumours than the Carolina Hurricanes and New Jersey Devils. So, naturally, when they met on Saturday in Raleigh, Pyotr Kochetkov and Vitek Vanecek both pitched 60-minute shutouts before Sebastian Aho finally whacked a puck that was four feet high in the air past Vanecek during 3-on-3 play to give his team the win.
One of the other shutouts on Saturday came courtesy of Washington Capital Charlie Lindgren, who may well be having the top-crease season nobody is talking about. Lindgren faced just 18 shots in a 3-0 win in Boston, but he stopped them all and is having far and away his best NHL year, at age 30. The undrafted southpaw — who had 28 total starts from 2015-16 through 2021-22 — has started 22 for the Caps this year and posted a .915 save percentage along the way. Lindgren’s 9.8 goals save above expected (according to Moneypuck) is the 10th-best mark in the NHL among stoppers with 20 appearances.
Right above him at No. 9 is Sergei Bobrovsky, who is somehow providing better value in the back half of his outrageous $70-million UFA deal with Florida than he did in the first. Yes, Bobrovsky was tremendous during the Panthers’ run to the final last year. But given how average he’d been through four years in South Florida, it was no sure thing — especially at age 35 — he’d be reliable this year. With his whitewash of the Avalanche on Saturday, though, ‘Bob’ is now at 10.1 goals saved above expected and — with the possible exception of the 2021-22 season — is almost certainly having the best campaign of his Florida tenure.
Of course, the Cats wouldn’t have even got into the second season last year if not for Alex Lyon coming out of nowhere to close out the year 6-1-1 with a .943 save percentage that made all the difference as Florida grabbed the final Eastern Conference berth. All that landed Lyon a gig as, ostensibly, Detroit’s third goalie this year. Well, he’s now doing his best to save another season, posting an 8-2-2 record and .924 save percentage since Jan. 4, including a 4-3 OT victory over the Canucks on Saturday. Lyon, who has jumped past Ville Husso and James Reimer on the Wings’ depth chart, is 11th in goals save above expected — right behind his old teammate Bobrovsky and Lindgren — and has Detroit sitting in the second wild-card spot.
The fourth shutout on Saturday came courtesy of David Rittich, who was claimed on waivers ahead of the season by L.A. and didn’t even play his first game with the Kings until Dec. 19, after Pheonix Copley was lost for the season. After blanking Edmonton, Rittich now has a .931 save percentage in a dozen outings for the Kings as he tries to do for L.A. in the second half of the year what bargain starter Cam Talbot did in the first.
And on it goes, from the unending Fleury turning aside 34 shots in a 3-2 win over his old Penguins teammates on Friday to bounce-backs from Bobrovsky and Calgary’s Jacob Markstrom — third in goals save above expected this year for the 2022 Vezina runner-up after another solid performance in Long Island Saturday — to all those guys we paid basically no attention to until they were suddenly stealing games.
Goaltending is always a fascinating topic. It just seems like the crease crazy has gone up a full notch this year.
Other Takeaways
• Technically, Joel Hofer stopped every opposing shot he faced on Saturday, too. The only puck to get past Hofer in a 3-1 victory in Buffalo happened when St. Louis defenceman Matthew Kessel’s quick clearing attempt in front of the net caromed off teammate Oskar Sundqvist’s skate and into the net. The next day, Jordan Binnington got the win — and Torey Krug picked up five helpers — as the Blues smashed the Canadiens 7-2 in Montreal. The goaltending battery has definitely been part of the story as the Blues have climbed into a playoff spot under interim coach Drew Bannister with wins in seven of their past eight outings. Now, three of those victories required extra time and only two of the eight opponents St. Louis faced currently hold down a post-season berth. Still, there are signs of life for a team that missed the playoffs last season and pushed the eject button on Cup-winning coach Craig Berube earlier this year.
• Make it five straight games with a goal for Alex Ovechkin. ‘Ovi’ passed Wayne Gretzky for the all-time record with his 57th career ENG on Saturday in Boston, then banked one off the skate of Vancouver’s Nils Aman in Sunday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Canucks. Maybe it’s just some puck-luck evening out for Ovechkin as he tries to resume chasing the big goal-scoring record held by No. 99. (He’s now 59 goals shy of Gretzky’s 894).
Weekend Warrior
MacKenzie Weegar gave us our first hat trick by a D-man this year, burying three on Saturday on Long Island. The last time a defenceman netted three in a game he was also wearing a Flames uniform, as current Canuck — and unlikely goal hero — Nikita Zadorov scored a hatty right before the regular season ended last April.
Red and White Power Rankings
1. Vancouver Canucks (35-12-6) It hasn’t been an easy go for Nils Hoglander since he scored at a 19-goal pace as a rookie in the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season. The 23-year-old Swede sniped in both his team’s weekend games, though, and has established a new career high with 16 tallies this year.
2. Edmonton Oilers (30-17-1) The Oilers were blanked on Saturday night for the first time in the Kris Knoblauch era, losing 4-0 to David Rittich and the Kings in Los Angeles. The one and only other time they’ve been blanked this year was with Jay Woodcroft behind the bench, on Oct. 26 when the Rangers came to town.
3. Winnipeg Jets (31-14-5) Nothing helps stop a five-game losing streak like your Vezina-calibre goalie stepping up and turning away 35 of 36 shots, as Connor Hellebuyck did on Saturday in Winnipeg versus the visiting Penguins
4. Toronto Maple Leafs (26-16-8) We’ve been talking about Toronto’s defence corps being undermanned all season and with a sizeable suspension likely to be handed down at any moment to Morgan Rielly for his cross-check to the head of Ridly Greig on Saturday, the Leafs’ defensive play could get gruesome in the next 10 days or so.
5. Calgary Flames (25-22-5) Five straight wins has Calgary sniffing that final wild-card spot again. After downing the Islanders 5-2 on Saturday, the Flames can go for their fourth straight road victory against the Rangers on Monday.
6. Ottawa Senators (21-25-2) Somewhat lost in all the chatter of Greig getting attacked by Rielly after slapping the puck into an empty net on Saturday is the fact Shane Pinto went 1-2-3 versus Toronto and has seven points in seven outings since returning from his 41-game gambling-related suspension.
7. Montreal Canadiens (21-23-8) It was a lost Super Bowl weekend for the Habs, losing on home ice to Dallas on Saturday before getting waxed by the Blues on Sunday. That said, Juraj Slafkovsky continues to be rewarded for his strong play and — with a goal versus Dallas and a helper against St. Louis — now has nine points in his past 10 outings.
The Week Ahead
• Two-time Cup champ Alex Pietrangelo is set to play his 1,000th NHL contest on Monday night when the Golden Knights host the Wild.
• We’re going outside next weekend, as MetLife Stadium — home of the NFL’s Giants and Jets — in East Rutherford, N.J. will see the Devils and Flyers clash on Saturday, before the Rangers and Isles battle Sunday afternoon.
• Fluff up your mullett; the Pittsburgh Penguins are raising Jaromir Jagr’s No. 68 to the rafters on Sunday evening. How many seats will the Travelling Jagrs take up for this one?
