from Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal.
When Toronto Maple Leafs’ centre Dave Bolland slapped one through the legs of Devan Dubnyk to finish of a 3-on-1 OT breakout Saturday, the Hockey Night in Canada cameras panned in on Edmonton Oilers GM Craig MacTavish. He looked sick to his stomach.
He wore the look of a man who knows he has a big problem but isn’t sure when or how he can fix it. He needs a goalie, or, at the least his No. 1 goalie to make a save when the team most needs it. Somehow Dubnyk, who never got the love he deserved last year for his .920 save percentage, facing the fifth most shots in the league, can’t stop anything now. He’s given up 19 goals on 111 shots in a little more than 3 1/2 games, including six on 26 shots in Toronto Saturday night in a wildly entertaining, river-hockey game.
Jonathan Bernier, who seemed to have wrested the No. 1 job from James Reimer going into Saturday’s game, frankly wasn’t any better at the other end, giving up five on 31, including some sour ones, in his worst night of the season, but he got the W.
Dubnyk did not. He’s the Oilers goalie, for better or worst, and it’s look like the latter right now. Jason LaBarbera is one of the NHL’s best guys and best quotes but he’s a long-time backup. it’s not like the Oilers have say, Reimer behind Dubnyk, or Buffalo’s Swedish goalie Jhonas Enroth, who’s pushing Ryan Miller for starts in Buffalo, or the tag-team of Viktor Fasth and Jonas Hiller in Anaheim.
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