goalies - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights



Antti Niemi Came Up Huge
Antti Niemi has been around a long time. Eleven NHL seasons, six different teams. And not once in all of that did the 35-year-old netminder experience what happened last night in Montreal: 20,000 people chanting his name....

The Odds Are Getting Better That <i>You</i> Are Going To Start In Goal For The Flyers This Season
Stability in goal doesn’t necessarily correlate with success, but the converse is almost always true. The Flyers are one point out of the NHL’s basement, and on Tuesday, in just their 43rd game of the season, they used their seventh different goalie—no team in the history of the league has ever used...

The Difference In The East Could Be Andrei Vasilevskiy
In a just world, the Lightning and Maple Leafs would meet in the Eastern Conference final. But it is not a just world, and because the two clear best teams in the East also happen to be the two best teams in the Atlantic Division, the NHL’s playoff format puts the two on track for a second-round sho...

The Capitals Dressed A College Women's Team Coach As Their Emergency Backup Goalie
Gavin McHale hadn’t played competitive hockey in four years, since he was in something called the South Eastern Manitoba Hockey League, and hadn’t played what you might consider “high-level” hockey in a decade, since the University of Manitoba. Until last night, when he was a Washington Capital....

The Predators Got Hosed By Goalie Interference
In a game loaded with playoff and seeding implications, Predators-Panthers had an ending that should terrify everyone that a rough goaltender interference call could fuck over any team at any time. Isn’t hockey great?!...

Marc-Andre Fleury's Return To Pittsburgh Was A Big Lovefest
After 13 seasons and three Stanley Cups with the Penguins, Marc-Andre Fleury is now minding net for the West-leading Golden Knights. Tuesday was Fleury’s return to Pittsburgh for the first time since departing about as amicably as these things go, and it was an emotional night for everyone....

What If <i>The Purge</i>, But For Goalie Interference<em></em>
Every sport has its catch rule, a point of controversy with rules so vague or arcane or reliant on human judgment that fans, players, and even referees can have trouble defining it. In hockey these days, that’s goaltender interference, and the usual short-term solution is that we trust the officials...

The Blues Dressed A Vending Machine Worker As Their Emergency Backup Goalie
Tyler Stewart had been working since 5 a.m. and had just finished his shift filling vending machines when he got the call: Blues backup goalie Carter Hutton had hurt his foot in the morning skate and AHL goalie Ville Husso wouldn’t be able to get there from San Antonio in time for puck drop. So Stew...

John Gibson's Glove Save Was So Good, It Fooled Whoever Operates The Goal Horn
There’s a weird tic of hockey writers where every great save has to be framed as a “save of the year candidate.” I do this too. Was tempted to do it here. Why? Why can’t we just set up a great save with “here’s a great save”? Do we not trust readers to watch a highlight unless we position it as a po...

Frederik Andersen Makes A Very Unlikely Glove Save
Look at alllll that net facing Noah Hanifin, and the unpreferable positioning of Frederik Andersen, on his pads, off-balance, and stuck near-side after making a save a split second before. Easy goal, right? Not if you know a little trick I like to call “reading the headline.”...

What Happened To Pekka Rinne?
The Penguins are surely doing lots of good things to be up 2-0 in the Stanley Cup Final after last night’s 4-1 win. They were the league’s highest-scoring team this year, and for brief explosions in both games in which they were generally outworked, they’ve been able to solve the Predators’ elite de...

It'll Be Matt Murray
The first serious goalie controversy of the postseason has resolved itself quickly—at least, for now. Matt Murray was first off the ice at today’s team skate, and will start in net for the Penguins in tonight’s desperate Game 4 in Ottawa....
