Kalman: Bruins Backup Goaltender Khudobin Has To Be on Thin Ice
By Matt Kalman, CBS Boston
It's time for the Bruins to play some head games in order to solve their backup goaltender dilemma, which has suddenly spoiled their sunny outlook about their strength in the position.
Backup Anton Khudobin has to get his mind straight and not let his dismal performances keep him from finding the groove the Bruins thought he could find when they brought him back as an unrestricted free agent over the summer.
And general manager Don Sweeney and the rest of the Bruins brain trust had to wrack their minds to decide if Khudobin deserves a chance to straighten out. And even if they decide to give him more opportunities, they have to figure out how many chances he gets.
Khudobin's latest disturbing performance came in a 4-3 loss to the Anaheim Ducks at TD Garden on Thursday. Khudobin allowed four goals on 27 shots, the fourth time in five starts he has allowed four goals.
"Yeah, I felt good. I think the first period was pretty good," Khudobin said. "Second, a couple unlucky bounces. That third goal went through my five-hole, went behind the net, came back. Cluster-[expletive]."
It seemed as though Khudobin had everything figured out when he made 29 saves in a 2-1 win against the Carolina Hurricanes on Dec. 1. But one week ago he let in four in a 4-2 loss to the last-place Colorado Avalanche. In a similar scenario, with the Bruins playing on the road the night before and not holding a morning skate on game day, Khudobin again wasn't completely sharp against the Ducks.
He had his moments, like a big save on a Jakob Silfverberg breakaway in the first period and a point-blank save on Josh Manson just before Manson scored the goal that put the Ducks up 3-2 in the second period. And Khudobin couldn't be blamed for the goal that was credited to Andrew Cogliano in the first period because David Krejci actually scored it.
But the Bruins didn't have that many more breakdowns in front of Khudobin than they usually have in front of Tuukka Rask. No one is expecting Khudobin to match Rask's MVP-worthy performances, but considering how difficult it is to score goals in the NHL, you don't expect any goaltender to let in four goals per game. Khudobin is 1-5-0 with a 3.20 goals-against average and .882 save percentage.
"We have belief in every single guy. It's just a tough break," Krejci said. "The first goal was all me. Everyone had their guy. I just kind of put the stick on it, tried to clear it, but things like that happen. [Khudobin] had zero chance on that. And I felt like we should've done a little better job in front of him. They had always two guys crashing the net and they got a couple bad-angle goals. So we've got to do a better job of this and help him out a little better."
It's difficult when you're the goaltender who plays the second half of back-to-backs. The Bruins are now 1-5-0 in those situations. It's even harder when you can sometimes go a week or more without playing and you need to redeem yourself.
"It is, of course, tough when you're playing once in a while and you want to get the right result. But I didn't get it again, so it make me probably more angry than disappointed," Khudobin said.
The Bruins don't have time for Khudobin to be disappointed, angry or any other emotion. They need him to stop the puck. They're in a battle for one of three playoff spots because of the imbalance in the points race between their Atlantic Division and the Metropolitan Division. They know what can happen to Rask if he's overworked because of how the past two playoff-less seasons ended.
Zane McIntyre held his own under trying times when Khudobin was injured earlier this season. McIntyre lost both his starts and had a .859 save percentage, but the Bruins were still ironing out their defense at the time and he had to face the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers on the road. More practices and a weaker opponent could make McIntyre, who's currently with the Providence farm club in the AHL, a serviceable backup.
The Bruins probably aren't at the point where they're going to pull the plug on Khudobin just yet. He's not planning on pulling the plug on himself.
"Go to the practice, talk to coach, [Goalie coach Bob Essensa], see what we can do better and keep moving forward," Khudobin said about his plan to turn his season around. "Nothing that can kill me right now, you know. Obviously disappointing. I'm not really happy but I'm not going to put my head down and say I'm done."
The Bruins will be responsible for deciding when Khudobin's done and that time might come sooner than they ever expected.
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @MattKalman.
