Reimer usually gets to play the 2nd game in a back to back when the team in front of him is tired. Dont know if that have any effect but it could have.
BINGO
It's not like Reimers numbers would be significantly better but it is a very safe assumption that they would be somewhat better. So if his numbers were even slightly improved by playing the first half of back to backs, and not going two weeks between starts, they would be identical to what Bernier has right now (maybe even better).
Being the number one and playing on a regular basis is a huge advantage as far as stats go (win/loss record and save %)
Furthermore coming in for relief of Bernier in the Nashville game when the team mailed it in is the only thing right now that is preventing him from having the same save % as Bernier.
The one question people are not asking is "Does Bernier really want to resign here? He was publicly embarrassed by the Mandela comments & gaff goal, this team will be in a rebuild for MANY MANY years to come without any chance of success which will definitely impact the dollar$ going into his pocket.
You would think that playing the second game of a back to back would influence numbers, but it's been shown that they actually only do so for the goalie that played the first game. Save percentage for back to backs when the goalie did not play the night before is right around league average, actually. It shouldn't have any effect on his numbers.
81Reasons, being a backup has actually been shown to often result in higher save percentage. It's very common that some of the leading goalies in this category play a backup role. Reimer might have done better if he had played more, but we simply do not know. We can only judge on what has happened here.
Bernier might not want to resign, that's true. I just wanted to address the point I've been seeing more of, that Bernier has not been better than Reimer this season. I find that an opinion with a short memory.
They are both good goaltenders, both have over the last couple of years put up top 20 numbers while facing a league-high average quality of shots. Goaltending is absolutely not our problem, no matter if one of them has a bad period or lets in a bad goal. If you judge goaltending on moments such as those, chances are you'll get rid of every quality goaltender coming your way.
Bernier in particular has done very well. I don't see how you can say that he's not a #1 goaltenders when the stats say he's been 5th-9th best in the league over the last five year period. Must be very few #1 goaltenders in this league in that case.