If Brent Johnson does indeed get the start tonight, which is expected (though sometimes you never know with the wily Bruce Boudreau), it would be the fourth consecutive Washington Capitals game in which he has started. That’s only happened once in his Capitals career (February 18, 2007 – March 3, 2007).
So is there any remarkable difference in his performance in games immediately following one of his starts, as opposed to his record in games following another goalie’s start?
Andre Ringuette/NHLI via Getty Images
First, his career numbers: 102-89-13-12 / 2.60 / .903. Certainly nowhere near elite. Though, as is becoming a common comparison, Johnson’s ratios are within the range of the career-to-date numbers of Stanley Cup winning Chris Osgood (2.44 / .907).
Johnny enjoyed one solid season in St. Louis (2001-02) as the number one guy. But he struggled the following season, and was ultimately relegated to back-up status following the Blues’ acquisition, by trade deadline deal, of the aforementioned Osgood. And, of course, he’s been a back-up ever since.
Here are Johnson’s totals by year, beginning in 2002-03, in those starts following his own start in the previous game for his team:
What do these numbers tell us? Not as much as I’d hoped. And post-lockout starts present too small of a sample to meaningfully break down the starts by ones with over/under 30 shots per 60 minutes.
What it might tell us is that Johnny traditionally fared a little bit better when he was hungry for a start and had a bit of a break. That is, until last season, and the beginning of this one.
Insignificant number crunching, or trend toward Johnson contuining #1 worthy effort?
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November 10, 2008 at 11:27 pm
dmg
I’m still inclined to think of Johnson as a backup or a 1A at best. The knock on him in St. Louis was that after a while he’d start to lose focus and it’s going to take a while longer before I believe he’s over that.
With that said, he does continue to earn himself playing time.