Goaltending deserving more blame? - 12-15-08

The always sharp Japer's Rink came up with a pretty good graph detailing how consistent Capitals goaltender Brent Johnson has been since Bruce Boudreau took over the team last season. Despite a slow start by Alex Ovechkin and injuries to key players such as Alexander Semin and Tom Poti, Johnson has been a rock for Washington which is the top team in the Southeast Division.

Seeing how consistent Johnson has been in terms of his game-by-game save percentage, we starting to wonder how solid Marc-Andre Fleury (above) and Dany Sabourin have been for the Penguins this season.

The results show something of a roller coaster season by each goaltender. Here is a look at each player's game-by-game save percentage this season::

Fleury:

Sabourin:

For the sake of comparison, here's what Johnson's totals look like this season:

Keep in mind when you're looking at these numbers, they indicate games played and not games started.

Other than a poor start and one big drop, Johnson has been steady.

Now in no way are we suggeting Johnson is Fleury's equal. Fleury was the Penguins' most valuable player in the playoffs last season while Johnson is a journeyman who has finally found a home. We're just using him as an example.

But the numbers don't lie. Fleury and Sabourin have been very up and down this season.

Do they deserve more of the blame for the Penguins' "problems?" As many problems as a 16-10-4 team in contention for a division title can have that is.

The power play, Miroslav Satan, injuries and so many other things with this team get criticized. And justly so for the most part.

But should Fleury and Sabourin get more heat as well? Or are their statistical difficulties a by-product of the team's inconsistency?

(Photo: Post-Gazette)