Okay, now he’s done it. Just when you thought the Edmonton Oilers had their goaltending situation settled. One is the starter and the other the backup. Which forces me to start a rumor about the last thing one would expect to hear mentioned in the same breath as Edmonton Oilers.
Goaltender controversy.
Okay, I said it and if there isn’t one…there should be.
We were all seeing everything in Oilerville starting to work out. The team’s character was building game in, game out. And, like going up the proverbial progressive ladder, the Oilers acquired the ability to string together a few wins.
In the beginning, things were good. Keyboard warrior pundits took great delight in trashing backup-turned-starter goaltender Cam Talbot. His numbers were not great, sitting at 5-4-1 as of November 2. His GAA of 2.81 along with his .904 save percentage, on the surface, would push him into the lower echelons starting goaltender stats.
Cam Talbot played well
In all fairness, he started against some of the best teams in the league. With the likes of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals and the Boston Bruins all members of last year’s century point club.
Not bad. But bad enough to get booed by the pundits, even though he beat the Stanley Cup champion Capitols, he lost to the Bruins.
And not that is his fault, but his last shutout was over a year ago when he doused Alberta’s unbearable relative, the Calgary Flames. But that was then, right now he’s above water. The goal that beat him in the Oilers 2-1 overtime win against the Chicago Blacks, was scored on a five on three power play. If not for that, heck. I’d give him an A-plus and call that a shutout worthy game.
And you don’t need to be a genius to realize the “are the Oilers going to make the playoffs” talk will persist until the Oilers DO make the playoffs. But, I am getting ahead of myself.
So backup goaltender Mikko Koskinen enters stage right sporting a 3.05 GAA and a .889 save percentage. The first win he notched in his belt was against the NHL’s current best team, the Nashville Predators led by that pesky PK Subban. Side note, Talbot did beat the Stanley Cup champions. Now if that isn’t fodder for controversy, I don’t know what is.
Oilers getting shutouts are rare, indeed
Okay, he’s got the numbers of a weak backup goaltender and they are playing the Chicago Blackhawks a team risking standing on the wrong side of the playoff picture if they don’t get their game together soon.
I am sure one can guess what was expected of Mikko? A win was realistic, but a shutout? Actually, a shutout is pretty cool, it’s just that I was expecting the starter to get one before the backup, that’s all. That and he stared down one of the league’s top sniper in Patrick Kane.
No, no, my friends getting a shutout almost automatically puts him in the top dog spot. After all, he was a starter the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), which is the second-best league in the world behind the NHL. Koskinen had good numbers posting a 1.57 GAA while posting a 22-4-1 record and 5 shutouts.
KHL or not, Koskinen had to get a shutout and tick off the pundits just a bit more. Last year’s free agent signing turned aside 40 shots in posting the first shutout in over a year. Cam Talbot (who else) grabbed a goose egg last year against Calgary on October 4.
Let the controversy begin
If Koskinen’s performance didn’t make current starter Cam Talbot raise an eyebrow? Then what will? There are so many what-ifs. Therefore, creating a goaltender controversy in Edmonton.
Could this be a bad thing?
Heck no.
by Verhomme