Boston Globe Anton Khudobin is actually a key to the Bruins’ success

Fenway

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FLUTO SHINZAWA | ON HOCKEY
Anton Khudobin is actually a key to the Bruins’ success

So say what you want about the risk of handing the keys over to newbie forwards like Anders Bjork and Jake DeBrusk. Past performance at Notre Dame and Providence indicates that Bjork and DeBrusk have the tools to handle NHL immersion, especially given the star centers who’ll be holding their hands on their respective lines.

That risk is nothing compared with the finger-crossing the Bruins are doing with their backup goaltending. In 2014-15 and 2015-16, inadequate netminding from Niklas Svedberg (7-5-1, 2.33 GAA, .918 save percentage) and Jonas Gustavsson (11-9-1, 2.72 GAA, .908 save percentage) cost the Bruins playoff entry. They nearly swung and missed for a third straight season when Khudobin (7-6-1, 2.64 GAA, .904 save percentage), Zane McIntyre (0-4-1, 3.97 GAA, .858 save percentage), and Malcolm Subban (0-1-0, 5.88 GAA, .813 save percentage) stumbled around the crease.

The Bruins are hoping Rask returns to his Vezina-winning form with a more manageable schedule. The amount of his rest will depend on Khudobin’s dependability.
 

talkinaway

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Mar 19, 2014
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I'd been banging that drum all last year. If we have any hope of making the playoffs, we need to have a backup goalie who can keep rask in the low 60s in terms of games played. Maybe even less. Spot-on analysis by Fluto of the Bruins backups since Khudobin's first tour in Boston. I honestly loved Chad Johnson in 2013-4; I know he's been a bit of a punchline since he left us, but he played and won enough games to keep Rask from overuse. Svedberg and Goose were huge disappointments, IMO, and the fact that we didn't make the playoffs those two years isn't a coincidence. Nor is the fact that Rask had to play an ungodly amount of hockey.

The nice thing about the team winning - and specifically your backup winning - is once you start down that road, you can play around a little with the house money and use the backup in situations where you might be more nervous. Conversely, when you're on the edge and your backup stinks, you have to play your starter every game, even if it's a schedule of 4-in-6 against teams where there's an obvious slot for a backup to take over. That can snowball and bite you in the end, just like it did in 2015-6 where Rask was way over-used, and would have been almost useless even if we had made the playoffs.
 
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Fenway

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This was the key game last year for Dobby - Late February against a Kings team that was desperate.



This game was on a Thursday night and the Bruins would not play again until the following Sunday morning in Dallas. Cassidy who knew that he had to get the Bruins into a playoff spot to have any chance of being named coach trusted Dobby, which Claude never did.
 

Fopppa

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Jan 3, 2009
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He’s right. Rask is excellent, but he gets worn down like any other goalie.

I like Dobby and I think he’ll be better and more reliable than last season, especially as I see this year’s d-corps outperforming last year’s.
 
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ODAAT

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I don` t recall the exact stat, perhaps someone here can dig it up but I seem to recall that the B`s back ups, at one point, had left a ridiculous number of points on the table well into the months of January/February. I think there was a time where they had been in a dozen or so games and had secured 3-4 pts, not good enough and it can`t happen again this season
 

ODAAT

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Oct 17, 2006
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With the exception of 2010-2011, there's a pretty strong pattern that he plays best with fewer games.

Agreed and truthfully, I find this to be the case with the majority of NHL goalies save a few who seem to thrive on more games than fewer
 

frickinbobby

Registered User
Sep 21, 2017
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They should be viewed as near equals. 1A and 1a. Tuukka Rask is simply not that much better anyway and will woops all of a sudden start reaching his ultimate potential when it looks like he's losing his job. No biggie. Coach's job to do what's necessary to get the best out of his players. That's what's required for maximizing Rask. No more than 55 games. The rest are Dobie's. No matter what.
 

WhalerTurnedBruin55

Fading out, thanks for the times.
Oct 31, 2008
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I think the team in front of the goalies is questionable. That said,I'm much more worried about Rask being a key than Khudobin.

I think we're looking at fringe playoff team again. Down to the last week deciding it again.
 

Sheppy

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Nov 23, 2011
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If the Bruins won 2-3 games on this road trip which was very doable despite not having Bergeron and Backes they'd be in much better shape. These are games you need to take points out of and it doesn't come any easier road trip wise than the one they were just on. So frustrating.
 

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