Pete DeBoer criticized for pulling starting goalie after only 1 goal in a tied game
Last night the Vegas Golden Knights were hosting the Washington Capitals in another huge game for the Knights, who are fighting for their playoff lives. With the score 1-1 after the first period, Head Coach Pete DeBoer decided to make a peculiar decision. That decision was to pull Robin Lehner and replace him with rookie goalie, Logan Thompson.
The decision to start Lehner over Thompson was a bit of a head scratcher with the way they both had been playing. Lehner had gone 2-3-1 with 19 goals allowed in his last six games since returning from a lower-body injury, while Thompson had won seven of his past 10 decisions with a save percentage of .922
Lehner looked good in the first stopping 12 out of 13 shots but did not show enough for DeBoer to be confident to keep him in the net.
The move looked like it might have backfired as Capitals' winger, Alex Ovechkin scored his 49th of the season less than 3 minutes into the second period to put the Capitals back in the lead 2-1. Thompson regrouped to compose himself the rest of the period and stopped the next six shots he faced.
The Golden Knights came out flying for the third period. Evgenii Dadonov sparked the Golden Knights with a much-needed goal just 2:05 into the third when he skated down the right side and fired a shot that slipped under Capitals Goaltender Ilya Samsonov's arm.
Less than a minute later, with Washington center Nic Dowd in the box for tripping, Chandler Stephenson - who won a Stanley Cup with the Capitals against Vegas in 2018 - put the Golden Knights ahead when he was positioned perfectly in the slot for the redirect, and ignited the crowd to the loudest its been all season.
Ovechkin got his 50th of the season and career No. 780 when he skated down the right side and blasted a shot Thompson had no chance to keep up with, tying the game at 3 with 6:24 left. It marked the ninth time in his career that Ovechkin scored 50 goals, tying Mike Bossy and Wayne Gretzky for most in NHL history. Ovechkin is also the oldest player in NHL history to score 50 in a season.
Golden Knights' defenseman Shea Theodore scored the OT winner to send the home crowd home happy. Thompson wasn't better than his teammate, but he was solid enough to pick up the win which is all that matters at this point of the season. With the win and Dallas Stars losing last night the Golden Knights have 89 points on the year two back of the Stars for the final Wild Card spot with one more game played. They are three points back of the LA Kings for third in the Pacific division.
After the game DeBoer shared why he chose to pull Lehner after the 1st period.
After that New Jersey game I felt like I wanted to give him the opportunity to bounce back and have a big game for us.
On the decision to change, I really liked our start, I thought we gave up that first goal I thought we looked like we were rattled as a team for the rest of the period. It was just to try and switch some momentum, reset ourselves and get ready for the rest of the game.
| POLL | ||
If the Golden Knights make it to the playoffs who should be their starter? | ||
| Robin Lehner | 121 | 54.5 % |
| Logan Thompson | 80 | 36 % |
| Lauren Brossoit | 21 | 9.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
