Best GAA in the league is Pekka Rinne at 2.02. That would make the record....7-12. If the team isn't scoring, you push late in the game and abandon the goalie, which can lead to more goals against. I'm not saying that Lehner's awesome (and was probably mistaken in him being ready for the starting job - not that he's far from it) but the real issues stand outside of team goaltending.
Leaving aside the W-L-OTL section, his goals against and save percentage aren't great (ranked 34th and 35th in the league, respectively). Yes, the team isn't scoring much these days, but if you're going to point that finger then you also have to point the the-goalie-isn't-standing-on-his-head-and-stealing-some-games finger.
I have no problem that he got angry and was upset when they lost the other night. To bad a few more of them don't play with more emotion. According to the RSU site Lehner tweeted "The day you guys see me not get angry, then pray I'm gone. Because I've given up".
Thx for the info, it does show he's not the problem. They need goal scorers badly just like Pierre McGuire said on TGOR before the season started. The Sens are much much closer to the #3 overall worse spot in the NHL than anywhere close to a playoff spot by the way
Buffalo 35, Edmonton 39, Arizona and Carolina 45 and Columbus and Ottawa 49, with the Laffs at 50
-- Edited by tjlincoln on Monday 9th of February 2015 10:25:07 PM
I'm already sick of hearing a lot of bashing in regards to Lehner's play and the apparent "hissy fit" that he had at the end of the last game, both in throwing his stick after the 4th goal and breaking his stick at the end of the game. I looked at his numbers for the season and broke it down as such. This gets spreadsheety, but hey, it's free:
Goal support for Lehner:
Oct 11 TB 2 (SO Win)
Oct 18 CBJ 3 (Win)
Oct 25 Devils 2 (OT Loss)
Oct 28 CBJ 5 (Win)
Nov 1 Bruins 2 (loss)
Nov 9 Leafs 3 (Loss)
Nov 20 Pregs 2 (Win)
Nov 22 Blues 2 (Loss)
Nov 25 Blues 2 (SO Win)
Nov 29 Bolts 1 (Loss)
Dec 13 Bruins 2 (SO Win)
Dec 15 Sabres 4 (SO Loss)
Dec 20 Habs 1 (loss)
Jan 4 Bolts 2 (Loss)
*replaced Anderson Jan 8th
Jan 13th Stars 4 (Loss)
Jan 29th Stars 3 (loss)
Jan 31 Coyotes 7 (Win)
Feb 3 Devils 1 (loss)
Feb 5 Capitals 1 (loss)
Feb 7 Blue Jackets 1 (loss)
Goals for per game:
1 2 3 4+
5 8 3 4
In OT 1 loss
IN SO 3-1
When the team scores 1 goal 0-5
When the team scores 2 goals 4-4 with 3 SO Wins, 1 OT loss
When the team scores 3 goals 2-1
When the team scores 4+ goals 2-2 with 1 SO loss
Team GF/Game average 2.73, with Lehner 52 goals for, average 2.6 GF/Game, pull out the Arizona outlier, 2.36 GF/Game. Anderson's Goals for average 2.80 GF per game. It's still abysmal compared to the rest of the league, but Anderson is getting half a goal more per game than Anderson is.
Yes, I would like to see a 4-0 record with 4+ goals scored for and he's had a couple BRUTAL games this year, such as both games against the Stars, but considering that he's not getting goals scored by the rest of the team hurts the look. Not once have I heard that the lack of scoring is the issue. Saying that he's the problem is not looking at the big picture. He's been fine and considering that he's 23, there's lots of time to work on him. Plus, look at the time between starts in those 2 Stars games: 9 days off and 16 days off. Players always say that it takes time to get used to NHL speed. Is this not the same for goalies?
Yes, Lehner threw his stick after the last goal in the last game SO WHAT?!? Is this the first time that we've ever seen someone do that? How often do defencemen break their sticks on the crossbar after making a mistake that cause goals against? And after the game, again, plenty of players break their sticks out of frustration. Maybe he was trying to make a point to his teammates to get going - I felt he kept the team in the games for the last 3 or 4 games. Wasn't Ryan frustrated after missing the empty net at the end of the Jersey game? Did Karlsson not javelin throw his stick at the end of a game after just missing a goal? I much rather him care and be angry of losing the game. We have had many apathetic players in the past - I remember Mike Commodore saying that no one cared in the room after losses when he was here. Bonk showed no emotion. Daigle and Yashin had no competitive drive. Heck, even Alfredsson shot the puck at the ref once early in his career (where he would have been older than Lehner at that time). These things happen and I personally like the anger and passion. Would you prefer a fight in practice since that is apparently the right way to motivate your teammates.
I really feel that Lehner has been fine this year and goaltending as a whole is the one bright spot in positions that this team has. Is he not a starter? Well maybe with a better team around him, he'd be fine. I honestly don't see him any worse than Niemi and Crawford when they won their cups - and he's younger than both of them were when they won their cups.
