Sunday 20 April 2014

BACK STOP - Goaltender Woes

Tampa Bay Lightning

Lindback
With starter Ben Bishop injured and unlikely to return in the first round the weight has fallen on the shoulders of Anders Lindback to back-stop the Tampa Bay Lightning in their 2014 first round series with the Montreal Canadiens. With only four seasons of NHL experience, all spent as a back-up with the Nashville Predators and Lightning and only 1 previous NHL playoff game back in 2011 the inexperience showed in games 1 and 2 as the Montreal Canadiens won both on the road to take a 2-0 series lead back to the Bell Centre. 

Lindback's net was peppered with 44 shots in Game 1 as Montreal spent considerable time in the Tampa zone, and whilst making a number of good saves he could not stop Dale Weise from scoring the overtime winner in the closing minutes of the overtime period. Only the unusually suspect play of Carey Price let the game get that far, conceding 4 goals on his opening 14 shots in a game where every shot counted for the home team.

Gudlevskis
Game 2 was less successful for Lindback, pulled with ten minutes to go after conceding 3 goals on 23 shots. Coach Jon Cooper decided to bring Latvian Olympic suprise Kristers Gudlevskis into the net for the final minutes, perhaps thinking that with the game already lost and a big question mark over Lindback's head for Game 3 that it might give Gudlevskis a chance to show what he was made of. Unfortunately that was not to be as Gudlevskis conceded a goal despite only facing 3 shots.

Gudlevskis made a name for himself at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, back-stopping Latvia against the Gold medal winning Canada team in the Quarter Finals. Gudlevskis play was stellar, stopping 55 of 57 shots and giving his team a real chance to cause an upset. Prior to relieving Lindback in Game 2 Gudlevskis only had one game's worth of NHL experience under his belt, a win at home against the Columbus Blue Jackets, where he stopped 36 of 38 shots.

The big questions now are who will start in net for the Lightning in Game 3 tonight at 7pm ET, will Cooper opt for more of the same or give the inexperienced Gudlevskis the nod, and is there anything the Tampa Bay Lightning can do to stop the onslaught of the Montreal Canadiens?

player images courtesy of NHL.com

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