The Ottawa Senators’ Goaltenders Have Been Good – And That’s No “Pull”

With Montreal goalie Carey Price being pulled in his last two starts and his understudy Peter Budaj not having much more luck in his start, I took a look around the league and found an interesting fact.

As far as I can tell, Ottawa is the only team in the league that has not pulled its goalie once due to poor performance this season.  The only time Paul MacLean made a goaltending switch mid-game was when Craig Anderson had his leg rolled up against the New York Rangers and he had to be replaced by Ben Bishop.  Other than that one game, the man who started the game in the Senators net also finished it.

Apr 16, 2013; Ottawa, ON, CAN; Ottawa Senators goalie Craig Anderson (41) stretches prior to the game against the Carolina Hurricanes at Scotiabank Place. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports

There are teams that have only pulled the goalie once, like the Bruins, for example.  The Rangers have not pulled their goalie since their second game of the season when Henrik Lundqvist allowed four goals on 19 shots against the Penguins.

So either the Senators have gotten stellar goaltending (which we already knew) or MacLean has a very long leash.

But then again, the trio of Anderson, Robin Lehner and Bishop didn’t give him a ton of reason to call out the hook.  Other than a couple of Bishop starts against Tampa and Toronto earlier this season, there hasn’t been a game the Senators were out of early enough to thing pulling the masked man would make a difference.