Lehner deserves a shot with Senators
The best players should play, coach says, but Ottawa’s top goalie is riding the bench
OTTAWA — Some days, it’s difficult to look past the contradiction between two of Ottawa Senators coach Paul MacLean’s go-to catchphrases. “The best players play.” “Craig Anderson is our No. 1 goaltender.”
One can hardly blame the coach for trying to defuse a goaltending controversy this season, when the statistical disparity between Anderson’s performance and that of backup Robin Lehner was more likely to be an anomaly, a product of too few games played.
MacLean obviously feels a sense of loyalty to his veteran netminder as well, given Anderson has been a major contributor to the team’s surprise success over the past two seasons. Understandable.
But after Saturday’s 5-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings, during which Anderson got the hook after allowing two bad goals on four shots in the first 4:18 of the game, it’s more clear than ever the Senators need to try something new.
Giving up the first goal of the game early is never easy to overcome, especially when the opponent is a Western Conference powerhouse expected to challenge for the Stanley Cup.
And speaking of Western Conference powerhouses expected to challenge for the Stanley Cup, the St. Louis Blues — another defensively sound team the Senators can’t afford to chase all night — visit Ottawa Monday night.
MacLean said Sunday he hadn’t decided on a starter yet.
Lehner wasn’t spectacular in relief Saturday — he probably should have prevented the third L.A. goal at the 12:56 mark — but for the most part this season, he’s been far and away the more reliable netminder.
Many fans feel a change should have been made back in early November, after Lehner rattled off three straight wins in relief of the injured Anderson and picked up the NHL’s first star of the week honour.
If the best players play, the argument went, why wasn’t Lehner allowed to run with this team a bit?
It’s unfair, of course, to automatically heap all of the blame for each poor performance on the netminders. Each game has its own little story that might not show up in the stat line and the Senators certainly haven’t made life easy on Anderson or Lehner (they give up more shots per game than 26 other teams).
But if you look at the gestalt of the goaltending situation, the numbers paint a pretty clear picture.
Anderson is giving up almost a goal per game more than Lehner (3.37 vs. 2.42).
Anderson’s save percentage is .898, fourth-worst in the NHL among goalies with 15 or more games played and 59th overall.
Lehner’s save percentage is .930, sixth-best among goalies with 15 or more games and 13th overall.
For a team that’s been pilloried for slow starts this season, they’ve actually scored first in half of Lehner’s starts (6/12), while doing so only 27 per cent of the time when Anderson gets the nod (6/22).
Further, Anderson has given up a first-period goal in 18 of 22 starts, while Lehner has escaped the first 20 minutes damage-free nearly half the time (5/12).
While there’s a credible argument to be made that Anderson shouldn’t have lost his job because he got hurt back in November, it no longer applies.
Lehner knows better than to rock the boat — “it’s not a goalie game, it’s a team game,” he said Sunday — but he agreed it’s much easier to get on a roll when playing every other day.
“Of course,” he said. “But we’re not getting those wins.
“We’re not getting it going (and) we’ve got to get it going together.”
But at this point, what’s the harm in giving him another week of games to see if he can duplicate his November success, which just so happens to be the only time this season the Senators have won three in a row?
Why not hold off pulling the chute if one of those games doesn’t go perfectly?
Craig Anderson has done a lot for this franchise since the Senators acquired him back in February 2011. He stabilized a position that had long beenthesourceof nightmares for fans and management.
There’s certainly no reason to believe he can’t get things turned around, maybe even quickly.
But right now, with the season already hanging in the balance, it’s time to let the best player play.