On October 13th during the second period of the game Carolina Hurricanes vs the Phoenix Coyotes, Anton Khudobin left with a lower body injury. It seemed at first to be a knee or a leg injury as he hobbled off the ice and into the dressing room. He had an MRI done the next day and then was put on injury reserved with an undisclosed injury. He was expected to be out for a couple of weeks, not giving so much as an approximate date for return. He is still out, and Justin Peters was called up from the AHL is serving as a backup goalie.
On October 24th, during the second period against the Minnesota Wild, Cam Ward left the game with a lower body injury. Justin Peters took over and played a pretty solid game. Reports say he is expected to miss up to four weeks. The good news is Khudobin should be back sometime before the end of the month.
With both goalies out for at least another week (in Dobby’s case) and Justin Peters taking over until then, who will the backup goalie be? As of right now I believe that even though Peters looks solid, depending how long both goalies will really be out for I am not sure his play will be good enough to keep the team up.
It all comes with practice and getting some time on the ice which is good for any backup goalie especially ones who are called up from the AHL. Just looking at the career season stats (doesn’t matter if it is NHL or AHL) Peters has a .89% save percentage when Ward has a .910 save percentage and Khudobin has a .932.
Giving Justin Peters a couple of games will be good for him, and as he progresses through the years he will only get better. But if these goalies are out long term, I think they should find someone else who has more experience to take over. All the teams need as many points as they can to get into the playoffs and depending on the extent of the injuries etc, I feel they will struggle. I hope they prove me wrong, and I cannot wait to see how Peters plays now and in the future.
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