Yesterday Richard Bachman was sent back to Oklahoma City and Laurent Brossoit was recalled by the Edmonton Oilers on an emergency basis. My immediate reaction to this was complete disappointment, but not because I don’t think Brossoit can play a game or two up here. I was disappointed because Richard Bachman’s play was selfishly giving me something to cheer about.
Edmonton’s season between the pipes has been a complete disaster from beginning to end, with the lone exception of these last few games Bachman has played it felt like no matter who was in net the Oilers would be let down. We’re talking about 5 games of work so yada yada small sample sizes, but 4 straight games with .900 or better goaltending at the end of the year including 1 shutout is still worthy of praise.
That kind of stretch of 4 games in a row of .900 or better, which shouldn’t be overly uncommon at all, is something that Ben Scrivens had only done once this season and that was in October. Viktor Fasth hasn’t done it even that many times this year.
Combine steady play with his personal story of long apprenticeship and personal loss and I was happy to watch Bachman play out the rest of the games on the schedule. However, his wife is due to deliver a baby at any minute now and I won’t begrudge the Oilers for re-uniting a family on the eve of such a joyous occasion as the birth of a child.
With Edmonton trying to attract Free Agent Goalie O’Connor as well as (hopefully) pursuing other goaltending options, AND wanting Brossoit to get an even bigger push in the AHL next year it’s very likely that we’ve seen the last of Bachman in the Oilers organization. I sincerely wish him the best of luck and if he doesn’t end up with a contract from the Oilers then I hope he gets one somewhere else as soon as possible.
As for Laurent Brossoit, he’s here now and he’s going to start the game. This will be his first ever NHL game. This year he has appeared in 49 games for the Barons posting a .916 save percentage. The year before that he had an 8 game audition in the AHL (in which his numbers were quite poor), but had played 35 games in the ECHL posting a .923 save percentage. So he has taken a little dip moving up to the next level but at just 22 years of age he is progressing along nicely.
He’s going to get at least this game in tonight and maybe the final game against the Canucks as well. After that we should expect him to spend more time in the AHL learning his trade. He has only played 59 AHL games in his career so it’s not as if he’s dying on the vine down there. Cory Schneider player 136 AHL games before being a fulltime NHLer and only as the backup to start. Pekka Rinne played 145 AHL games before he made the transition to the NHL. Unless he goes supernova before then Brossoit will probably have another year to go before he’s competing for a spot. And as luck would have it Scrivens’ contract should end around that time.
As for now, I’m just hoping that Brossoit can provide some solid, not spectacular, netminding so we can both enjoy tonight’s game.
LINEUP
Along with Brossoit the Oilers called up Curtis Hamilton as well. As per Jason Gregor that makes them the 10th and 11th players to make their NHL debuts with the Oilers this year are the 42nd and 43rd players to have played for the Orange and Blue. RNH might be back in for the last game but Gordon is probably done and both Fayne and Fasth remain possible for the finale as well. This lineup is as beaten up as I can remember any Oiler team. Forwards from almost every line, 3 regular defensemen, and the backup goalie are all zombified right now.
Pouliot Hall Eberle Purcell Roy Yakupov Fraser Lander Pitlick Gazdic Klinkhammer Hamilton
Klefbom Schultz Marincin Musil Aulie Davidson
Brossoit
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) More Of The Same: The last game was a combination of simple, physical hockey and good goaltending. That’s what it took from beginning to end to match the Kings and take advantage of their desperation. Now it helped that LA started off too slow and built from there but the Oilers are depleted and need every player pulling in the same direction to compete.
2) Saves Early. With the nervous energy that comes with starting your first NHL game the best thing that can happen for Brossoit will be if he can get in front of a couple shots relatively early in the game. As soon as those first few stops are made he should be able to just start playing his game. That’s the theory anyway. Just as the team rallied around Bachman we’re hoping they can do something similar to make Brossoit’s first game one to remember. It will be hard to match the emotion of beating the Kings and all but destroying their Playoff hopes but these guys are professionals.
3) Hello Tierny. There’s a new name that we have to really concern ourselves with when we talk about the Sharks. Thornton, Pavelski, Couture, Marleau, we are used to those ones, but Chris Tierny has been the Sharks leading scorer over the last month. He has 12 points in 14 games since March 9th. His Shooting Percentage and PDO are through the roof during this span but the he’s a 1st year pro who score 24 points in 27 AHL games and now has 20 points in 41 NHL games. The former London Knight looks like a pretty solid pickup as he was drafted 22 spots after the Oilers took Moroz in 2012.
Puck drops tonight at 7:38PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet 360. Tank On!
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