KOSKINEN UPS HIS NET WORTH
Oilers backup shuts out ’Hawks
Order up a truckload of Mikko Koskinen No. 19 jerseys. Commission one of those life-sized bobblehead dolls for the Rogers Place concourse. Apologize to general manager Peter Chiarelli.
So exceptional was the home debut of the $2.5-million goalie Chiarelli rescued from six seasons in the KHL that Oilers fans went home hoping it wouldn’t be long before they’d see him again soon.
Koskinen stopped all 40 shots in a 4-0 shutout win over the Chicago Blackhawks. It was the first shutout of his NHL career for the goalie drafted in 2009 by the New York Islanders.
Three hours earlier they were wondering what the hell head coach Todd McLellan was thinking.
So used to seeing Cam Talbot show up in the Edmonton net at Rogers Place are Oilers fans that it registered as something more than a mild surprise to see No. 33 sitting on the bench wearing a baseball hat Thursday night.
They also had to figure that Talbot, who recorded his 99th win as an Oiler over the Blackhawks in Chicago, would have received his chance to get No. 100 at home before the team headed out on a four-game road trip.
But there was the six-footseven form of Chiarelli’s pricey puck-stopper between the pipes.
This wasn’t the road. And it wasn’t a back-to-back game situation. In the minds of most, the next Koskinen sighting wasn’t due until Monday or Tuesday of next week when the Oilers play in Washington and Tampa.
The move by head coach Todd McLellan announced to the team that he was going to be serious about giving his backup goalie an opportunity to play a significant role in whatever happens here this year.
For each of the last two seasons, the Oilers had the grand total of five wins provided by backup goaltenders.
Five.
Koskinen now has two. Two-for-two. McLellan said he didn’t think he was rolling the dice to give Koskinen the net for this one.
“Mikko played extremely well in Nashville in a tough environment on a tough road trip without a morning skate,” said McLellan after the morning skate, explaining his decision.
“I think it was a breakaway early in that game that he made a big save and everybody said, ‘OK, Mikko is here, we better get going.’
“He looked under control. He handled rebounds well. He understood the tempo and momentum of the game and when to get whistles, which is important for a goaltender. I feel really good about putting him in there and I know he feels good about playing.”
Koskinen was the Oilers’ best player as the home team was outshot 15-8 by the Blackhawks in a scoreless first period. Several of those saves were of the sensational variety.
It seemed like the Oilers went back to the dressing room and said, “OK, Mikko is here, we better get going.”
It took all of 18 seconds for the Connor McDavid-to-Ryan Nugent-Hopkins-to-Drake Caggiula play to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead.
While the home side did hit the ironwork at the other end of the ice a couple of times, Koskinen spent most of the rest of the second period performing minor miracles in his own end, none greater than the breakaway leg save on Jonathan Toews.
Jason Garrison scored his first goal in 63 games to give The Big Finn a bit of a cushion.
He went to the dressing room after the sandwich session having stopped all 30 shots.
The Oilers came back and made it 4-0 on Caggiula’s second of the night and another by a Chiarelli acquisition as Alex Chiasson scored his fifth in the last six games.
It was all about securing the first NHL shutout for the new No. 2.
Koskinen didn’t look like a brilliant acquisition by the muchmaligned general manager with the way he struggled through training camp and the pre-season as he prepared to return to the NHL for the first time since a four-game start to his career in 2010-11.
He was 24-2-1 last season with St. Petersburg SKA in the KHL. It was his sixth year playing in Russia, where he had a 101-58-15 overall record.
Koskinen obviously improved on his 3.05 goals-against average and .889 save percentage from his first outing in Nashville.
There’s nothing like having a healthy competition between goalies and if what we’ve seen so far is what we’re going to get, it can only be a blessing for this team.
It doesn’t hurt Talbot is in a contract year, either.