Sorry ... but ......... In any era of play .... Wards play has been POOR ........ not just against Tampa (facing 33 SOG in a period is ridiculous) .... 6 games worth of play so far ... he stinks ...... its what I expected of him
Good news ....... hopefully Cro is healthy the rest of the year
Goaltenders
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Coming into last night's game the 'hawks were allowing about 34.57 SA/GP. Ward was a .879. Not good at all, which I agree with.
He managed to put up a .907 last night (not spectacular my any means even though it's better than his usual). If the 'hawks were keeping to their already-abyssimal shot suppression, Ward would have only allowed 3 goals....instead of 5.
He saw 20 *more* shots that the 'hawks already bad SA/GP average. That's bad. That's very bad. In fact, it was bad enough that in one game it trebled up to 37.1 SA/GP.
Ward may not be helping matters, but let's be real here: Crawford playing at last year's clip would not have won us this game. Vladislav Tretiak would not have won us this game. A 4x6 cinderblock wall would have had a hard time winning us this game.
The real culprits for last night's fecal-fest were the skaters and their lack of playing any defense...pure and simple. Ward may be sub-par but that loss was not on him.