Once the season starts…you expect to see some considerably crooked numbers the first week and especially from unexpected sources (and some expected too). For example Craig Anderson is good…but did you expect him to have two wins and one shutout against the likes of San Jose and Vancouver? Add in the fact that Ray Emery looks like a worldbeater and these are the only two goalies in the league that have a shutout right now. Surprised? Don’t be.
This is just that time of year where some players just “go off” early. There is no rhyme or reason for this but if you have some of these players…just ride the wave. Brooks Laich (3 goals) is not going to score 123 goals this year. Even that Ovechkin guy cannot do that. Really it is impossible. Even Carey Price has two wins in two starts on the young season. Did you see that coming? Most did not at all. Speaking of all these strange statistical wackiness…..let’s take a look thanks to that Y site at goalies for a second.
| Name | Team | GS | MIN | W | L | OTL | GA | GAA | SV% | ||||||||||||||||||
| Craig Anderson | COL | 2 | 120 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1.00 | .973 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Ray Emery | PHI | 2 | 120 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1.00 | .963 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Carey Price | MON | 2 | 127 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1.89 | .951 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Marc-Andre Fleury | PIT | 2 | 125 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2.41 | .909 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Henrik Lundqvist | NYR | 2 | 118 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2.53 | .923 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Miikka Kiprusoff | CGY | 2 | 120 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3.00 | .921 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Tim Thomas | BOS | 2 | 120 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3.01 | .902 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Evgeni Nabokov | SAN | 2 | 119 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3.02 | .867 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Tomas Vokoun | FLA | 2 | 125 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 3.36 | .920 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Roberto Luongo | VAN | 2 | 119 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 3.53 | .857 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Cam Ward | CAR | 2 | 89 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 4.06 | .891 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Vesa Toskala | TOR | 2 | 85 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 4.97 | .800 |
This is for guys who have played two games. No this is really not a barometer of their capabilities obviously. However we do this to point out that very fact! The craziest number may be the fact that Vokoun faced over 40 shots a game in the two games in Europe. I know Florida was struck down a bit by the flu but still. We all knew Toronto’s D was too slow to help Toskala and really anyone else in net for that matter. But to see Luongo that far down on this list is a bit eye opening but then again it is early. Keep reminding yourself of that.
Obviously there are other numbers we will be chewing on a bit as the season goes on. I have something called the quality game. What that is basically is a goalie who gives up 2 goals or less and posts a .920 save percentage. It will be fun to see who leads this quirky stat at the end of the year but we will post updates on it every so often. Now those are results that can be very surprising. For example Roberto Luongo had 29 of those last year in just 54 starts. Scary indeed!
Lastly we needed more comic relief from the offensive side now.
| Name | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | SOG | Pct | |||||||||||||||||||
| Alexander Ovechkin | WAS | 2 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 10 | .300 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Nicklas Backstrom | WAS | 2 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | .000 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Brooks Laich | WAS | 2 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 9 | .333 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Alexander Semin | WAS | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 8 | .250 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Wojtek Wolski | COL | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 8 | .375 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Brandon Dubinsky | NYR | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | .500 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Keith Tkachuk | STL | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 5 | .400 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Paul Kariya | STL | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 5 | .400 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Paul Stastny | COL | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | .250 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Jay McClement | STL | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 5 | .200 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Patrick Kane | CHI | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 12 | .167 |
Some very expected names on there with some McClement guy crashing the party along with maybe Wolski and Dubinsky. Ovechkin and Backstrom are on fire which bodes well for their owners considering Ovechkin got off to such a slow start last year. He may really break 140 points this year…sounds crazy but possible. Then again anything is after the first week. So if you got smoked in a league this week or are getting smoked…do not panic! Its the worst thing you can do especially early on when crooked numbers like these above are more the norm than the exception.
