This article is part of our The Goalie Report series.
In this week's column, we look at goalie performances over the past week, where some goalies have elevated their game, while others have floundered.
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Leevi Merilainen, Ottawa (.975 Sv%, 0.67 GAA)
With starting goalie Linus Ullmark sidelined nine games ago, nursing a back injury, the Senators were likely contemplating an end to their competitive window this season. Instead, Merilainen has infused renewed hope since he came up from the AHL to make his debut with the big club. With his three impressive wins last week, he's even leapfrogged Anton Forsberg to move to the top of Ottawa's depth chart. He's 5-2-0 since his callup and is looking like the latest Finnish import to make a mark in the NHL, injecting a much-needed spark in the Ottawa locker room.
Logan Thompson, Washington (.952 Sv%, 1,35 GAA)
Similar to the story in Ottawa, an injury to Charlie Lindgren created a need for Thompson to take on a heavier load instead of the season-long even split in starting assignments between the two goalies. Thompson responded by taking on four straight games and putting up his best efforts of the season, posting three wins and an overtime loss, to help the Caps extend their lead in the Eastern Conference standings. While Lindgren's upper-body injury isn't expected to keep him out much longer, Thompson has moved in front of his teammate with this recent push, lifting his record to 19-2-3 this season.
Jeremy Swayman, Boston (.932 Sv%, 2.61 GAA)
In this week's column, we look at goalie performances over the past week, where some goalies have elevated their game, while others have floundered.
Trending Up
Leevi Merilainen, Ottawa (.975 Sv%, 0.67 GAA)
With starting goalie Linus Ullmark sidelined nine games ago, nursing a back injury, the Senators were likely contemplating an end to their competitive window this season. Instead, Merilainen has infused renewed hope since he came up from the AHL to make his debut with the big club. With his three impressive wins last week, he's even leapfrogged Anton Forsberg to move to the top of Ottawa's depth chart. He's 5-2-0 since his callup and is looking like the latest Finnish import to make a mark in the NHL, injecting a much-needed spark in the Ottawa locker room.
Logan Thompson, Washington (.952 Sv%, 1,35 GAA)
Similar to the story in Ottawa, an injury to Charlie Lindgren created a need for Thompson to take on a heavier load instead of the season-long even split in starting assignments between the two goalies. Thompson responded by taking on four straight games and putting up his best efforts of the season, posting three wins and an overtime loss, to help the Caps extend their lead in the Eastern Conference standings. While Lindgren's upper-body injury isn't expected to keep him out much longer, Thompson has moved in front of his teammate with this recent push, lifting his record to 19-2-3 this season.
Jeremy Swayman, Boston (.932 Sv%, 2.61 GAA)
Swayman has taken on an unprecedented high share of starting assignments this season, appearing in eight of the Bruins' last nine games to help the club stay in the hunt for a top-three finish in the Atlantic Division. After some early season struggles, he's managed to lower his GAA to below 3.00 after delivering a higher percentage of quality starts in recent weeks. That will likely need to continue to boost the Bruins, but he's proven capable of handling the heavier workload to date. That has answered one big question for his team's management and heightened the confidence of his teammates. At this pace, he'll soon pass several career highs.
Mackenzie Blackwood, Colorado (.939 Sv%, 1.66 GAA)
Blackwood has thrived in a big way since being acquired by the Avs. He's posted a glittering 9-2-1 record with his new team and is well on his way to a career-best and busiest season of his seven years in the NHL. He had to know that he wouldn't have to carry this roster because of the talent around him, but he's made a significant contribution to this outcome with a career-high .919 save percentage and career-low 2.49 goals against average. It looks like Colorado's swift and decisive trades have removed goaltending as a concern.
Joey Daccord, Seattle (.923 Sv%, 2.15 GAA)
Daccord has outplayed Philipp Grubauer in the Kraken crease this season. He's on pace to duplicate the breakout campaign he enjoyed last season. The consistency of his efforts is underscored by a high percentage of quality stats in his game logs. This tendency is a critical component for a team that ranks in the bottom half of the league in goal scoring. The pressure will be on Daccord to keep his team in the hunt for a playoff spot.
Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg (.978 Sv%, 0.50 GAA)
Hellebuyck has been one of the most decorated goalies since his NHL debut 10 years ago. He's in the middle of another outstanding campaign once again. He's now tied for first place as the betting favorite for the NHL's MVP, an award rarely won by a goalie. That's a clear indication of how good he's been. This season he's leading all goalies in several statistical categories and is the busiest in terms of games played.
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John Gibson, Anaheim (.865 Sv%, 3.55 GAA)
Gibson has spent his entire 12-year career in Anaheim and has been the unchallenged top goalie on this roster throughout most of that time. This track record changed last year with the emergence of Lukas Dostal. This season, Dostal has again edged in front of this goalie share, but at least Gibson can say he's put up his best stat line in several years. Recently, his performance has fallen off. This is not happening at a good time because the Ducks would like to be able to offer him up as a trade piece before the upcoming deadline and hitch their cart to the goalie who is seven years younger than the veteran.
Sergei Bobrovsky, Florida (.876 Sv%, 2.98 GAA)
The 36-year-old veteran is coming off a Stanley Cup-winning campaign but has been taxed to play behind a defense corps that lost three key performers to free agency in the offseason. That's translated to poorer numbers across the board for Bobrovsky. The Panthers are still a formidable opponent and boast one of the better offenses in the league, but there's no doubt the changes to the blueline have taken their toll on goalies here. Bobrovsky has continued to take on a large share of starts, but he has to hope the club will try to fortify the defense with upgrades in the next few weeks.
Pyotr Kochetkov, Carolina (.895 Sv%, 3.00 GAA)
Kochetkov has once again been thrust into the lead goalie role with yet another long-term injury to Frederik Andersen. He's enjoyed a good deal of success in his three seasons with the Hurricanes, but his level has dropped recently, surrendering at least three goals in five of his last six starts. This continues a season-long trend where he's not been able to record a high rate of quality outings as he did last season. His overall numbers are only marginally worse than last season, but this most recent run is at least cause for some concern.
