In the NHL, no player may have a tougher job than the backup goaltender. Even more so if you are playing ahead of one of the better goaltenders in the league. You have to play good enough for the head coach to feel comfortable in letting you play to give the starter rest, and what little work you may get you never know when it might come.
An early season match-up between two backups turned out to be one of the better goaltender duels the young season has have had to offer.
For the Boston Bruins they entered Monday having already played in three games and had started Tuukka Rask in each of those games. With three games in the next four games, including back to back nights against divisional opponents (Montreal Canadiens and Detroit Red Wings), Claude Jullien decided to go with backup Niklas Svedberg.
The Colorado Avalanche were opening up their own set of back-to-back’s and decided to go with Reto Berra, who the team acquired at last year’s trade deadline.
Both players faced a constant attack from both sides, with Colorado pushing the pace with their tremendous speed and Boston’s continuous chances due to extended offensive zone time, but Berra and Svedberg held strong all the way (literally) to the last second.
With less than a second left Daniel Briere put home a rebound to give the Avalanche the edge. Svedberg stopped 28-of-30-shots in just his second career NHL start.
The 25-year old Swedish born player was dominant in two previous seasons as the goaltender for the Bruins’ top minor league affiliate, Providence. In 93 games played in the AHL, Svedberg won 62-games and posted a .924 save percentage with a 2.38 GAA.
He was able to beat out 2012-first round pick by the Bruins, Malcolm Subban, for the backup job behind Rask.
Berra broke onto the scene last year as a 26-year old rookie with the Calgary Flames stopping 42-of-44 shots against then defending Stanley Cup Champions Chicago Blackhawks, as the Flames won the game 3-2 in overtime.
Playing behind a bad Calgary team, Berra had an up and down season and his final numbers there reflect that (.897 save percentage, 2.95 GAA). Now playing for a better Avalanche team, the early season numbers have reflected the change of scenery, with Berro now stopping 37-of-38-pucks early on this season (saw action against the Minnesota Wild).
After giving up the lone goal in the second period, Berra stopped 16-straight shots to close out the victory. Svedberg had a goal allowed eventually overturned due to it being touched by Colorado with a high stick.
With Varlamov and Rask in front of them, the opportunities won’t be plentiful and in turn makes each start they do make that much more pressure filled. Nothing can kill you quicker in the playoffs than an overworked goaltender, something that both teams have aspirations for.
It’s not an easy job, but on this day both made it look like second nature. It was one of those games where it was almost a shame that one of the goaltenders had to take an ‘L’ in the stat column.
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