As I’ve been saying for the past month, it’s not likely that the Red Wings will really sort out their goaltending situation until the first 10-15 games of the regular season have passed.
Ville Husso had a particularly good start in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, Cam Talbot’s got the net tonight against the Leafs, and Alex Lyon will help Detroit host the Senators tomorrow.
From there, we don’t really know who’s going to be the starter, back-up or #3 goaltender, and, as Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen notes, things aren’t likely to change soon:
Husso was the big question mark coming into training camp because he had not been healthy enough to play a full game since last December. But he has stayed healthy in training camp, and drew strong reviews from Lalonde when he stopped 43 of 44 shots to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 Tuesday.
“It wasn’t even the 97% (save percentage),” Lalonde said. “It was the way he looked. He looked sharp. He looked composed, he was seeing pucks. (His) puck handles were great. That’s when a goalie looks comfortable in his net. Obviously a good step forward for him.”
In two games, Husso has stopped 57 of 61 shots for a .951 save percentage.
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Lyon is right there with Husso with a .943 save percentage (stopping 33 of 35.). Talbot’s save percentage is .900, but Lalonde has given positive feedback on him as well. GM Steve Yzerman would not have signed him to a two-year contract if he didn’t believe he could be a significant factor.
“He’s played very well. His two looks so far,” Lalonde said. “He’ll get 60 minutes tonight, which I think is important for him. But he’s shown extremely well. ”
Keeping three goalies is never ideal because goalies feel like they don’t get enough practice time. But the Red Wings did it last season to their advantage.
“Again, I love a goalie by committee,” Lalonde said. “Obviously, I was fortunate enough to coach one of the greatest goalies will go down in history in (Andrei) Vasilevskiy, but not everyone has that luxury. Again, if it’s goalie by committee and they’re all playing at a high level and helping us win, we’ll go goalie by committee. Unfortunately, in the last couple years we’ve had to ride out some goalies when we knew we were probably over playing them and it probably hit a wall there. So I like the three. I like the vision with the three.”
Continued; the three-headed goaltending monster lives!
