Carolina Hurricanes Goalie Eddie Lack Deserves More Starts

Carolina Hurricanes Experiencing Goaltending Issues Despite Winning Two Straight

Let me start this by saying, I own two Carolina Hurricanes jerseys and one of them is a Cam Ward jersey.  I had always had a blank sweater but in 2008 I wanted to get a name and number put on it, and why not the rock between the pipes, Cam Ward.

I also understand that the Hurricanes are coming off of two straight wins, with one being against one of the strongest teams in the entire league, the Montreal Canadiens. The offense was able to get it going and produced two good wins, but that’s what they were. Offensive wins.

Cam Ward Struggling in Last Five Starts

in the last three games Ward has started he has let up 3 goals within the first 3 minutes of the first period.  Most recently Ward let up the game’s first goal on the second shot faced of the game just :49 seconds in. In the previous game Ward let up a goal just 2:44 seconds into the match up against the Canadiens on just the third shot faced. Just two games prior to that he let up a goal on the first shot he faced against the Rangers. Both in the Canadiens game and the Coyotes game, I was maybe five minutes late to the tv just to see the team was already down 1-0.

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Letting up an early goal lets the opposing team grab momentum early and set the tone of the game.  It can be very difficult to come back from an early goal, it has the same sapping effect as a goal in the last minute of a period.  The team deserves a lot of credit for being able to rally back from these goals and win.

The issues haven’t only been coming early in the games. In the game against Buffalo, he let up 3 goals on only 14 shots (in 2 periods). In the match up with the rangers the first period saw 2 goals against on only 6 shots.  That total didn’t look much better when it became 3 goals off of 14 shots after two or 4 goals off of 22 total shots for the game. The most recent bout against the Coyotes yielded almost identical results with 4 goals against coming off of only 23 shots.

Carolina Hurricanes

In just one of his last 4 games that he has started, he has only registered over a .900 sv% once, and that was in the game against Montreal. The other three games against the Coyotes, Rangers, and Sabers he registered sv% of .826, .818, and .786 respectively. The difference between those games and the wins, is that the power play unit was able to score, and the offense was able to score more than two goals.

These stats combine for a season SV% of only .899 which is 44th best in the league.  This means that Ward is the worst of all starters and half of the leagues back ups.  His GAA of 2.57 is also only good enough for 30th in the league. This just isn’t good enough for the team to be able to put together a good string of wins.

We have all seen what its like when the offense isn’t scoring more than 3 goals a game and can’t rely on goaltending to win an occasional game.  That story is good enough to be one of the bottom 3 teams in the league, which they were before this weekends two wins.

Give Lack a Chance

So you have to start looking at the alternative, which at the moment I admit is not ultra promising.  Ron Francis didn’t trade for Eddie Lack to have him start 10 games a year, they traded for him to get a capable back up that could take pressure off of Ward and compete for the number one spot.  Yet right after the preseason, where Lack looked okay, they benched him to only start him 7 times in 27 games.

Eddie Lack is only 1-5-1 in his 7 starts this season with a GAA of 3.54 and a SV% of .865, both 50th best in the league. However, goalies are notoriously tricky players, and are often headcases.

Eddie Lacks strongest seasons were when the goalies ahead of him got hurt and he had consistent playing time. Last year he started half of the season with the Canucks and was able to get 18 wins.  With the Hurricanes he is only one game about every week and a half.  This isn’t allowing him to get in rhythm and see the puck well.

Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports

NHL.com recently interviewed Braden Holtby of the Washington Capitals.  In this interview he says the hardest times to play in goal are when you aren’t seeing a lot of shots in a game.  Seeing under 20 shots doesn’t let a goalie settle in and start seeing the puck like he wants to.

This has to make Eddie Lack’s job even tougher if he is only seeing NHL game speed shots three times a month.  The Carolina Hurricanes coaching staff needs to see what they really have in Eddie Lack by letting him start a couple of games in a row to see if he can get in rhythm and settle in.

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Maybe he will be better, maybe he wont, but I would rather see him get the shot to prove himself and to see what the Hurricanes have as options between the pipes night in and night out. Honestly whats the worst that could happen? Either the coaching staff finds out they have someone that’s worth starting and can steal a couple of games here or there, or they just have the same quality goaltending that they’ve had all year.