George Richards, FHN Publisher
Chris Driedger will get his fourth start in the past five games on Monday night but coach Joel Quenneville says his team does not have a goalie controversy brewing.
The Panthers, as everyone knows, have invested a lot of money in Sergei Bobrovsky yet prior to Monday’s game, he and Driedger have split the starts so far this season.
By starting Monday night, Driedger will take the lead in starts.
During his Monday morning press availability, Florida Hockey Now asked Quenneville whether Driedger should be considered Florida’s starting goalie right now.
“He has had a good stretch here,” Quenneville said. “He has an opportunity right now to get a little bit more than the odd game and he has taken advantage of it. We will see how it plays out. We expect Bob to be pushing him and getting the net back.
”But the opportunity is there for Driedge to play a little bit more than normal and we’ll see where that takes us.”
There is little doubt Driedger deserves the playing time.
Dating back to last season, he has the best stats of the three goalies (including Sam Montembeault) to start for the Panthers.
Coming into Monday, Driedger is 6-1-1 this season with a 2.35 goals-against with saves on 93 percent of shots faced.
Bobrovsky is 5-2-0 with a 3.18 GAA and an 89 percent save ratio.
The Panthers, at least during this 56-game sprint of a season, cannot afford to have much patience.
The best goalie has to play.
On Saturday, Bobrovsky only gave up two goals in a hard-fought 2-1 loss to the Red Wings in Detroit.
That should have been enough to beat Detroit only the Panthers didn’t get the goals themselves.
Still, in the postgame, Quenneville sounded a lot like he did in Washington back in 2019 when Bobrovsky gave up four goals in a loss and Driedger — then just called up from the minors — was put in and shut out Nashville in his first NHL start.
“We lose a draw cleanly and it’s in our net,” Quenneville said on Saturday night. “I didn’t like the second goal, that can’t happen. Both nothing plays there and we gave them two goals. To me, that was the difference.”
Quenneville in Washington in 2019: “That was a well-played game from our point of view and we just need some saves to win the game in a game like tonight. … Goalies get scrutinized to a different level, but in a game like tonight on the road against a good team, you need timely saves, you need big saves and that can be the difference.”
Since Driedger’s Florida debut against the Preds, he has given the Panthers a chance to win each time he has been in net even in the games where his stats were the worst.
Four times he has surrendered four goals in a game; the Panthers won three of those.
This month, Driedger is averaging 2.6 goals-allowed in five starts and the Panthers are 4-1.
“The other guy (Driedger) is on a bit of a roll so you don’t want to deny that opportunity,” Quenneville said Monday.
“Bob will get several opportunities as we go on here so it is more what Driedge has done and to give him more than just a back-to-backer.”
When asked, point-blank, whether the Panthers have a goalie controversy brewing, Quenneville offered a one-word answer: “None.”
Driedger’s rise to being considered an NHL starting-caliber goalie has been well documented.
A third-round pick of the Senators in 2012, the Winnipeg native shuttled between Ottawa and its AHL team in Binghamton for three years before seemingly being banished to the minors altogether.
In 2018, after bouncing between the ECHL and AHL for two seasons, Ottawa cut Driedger loose.
The Panthers offered a minor-league contract and he took it.
Florida initially sent him to the ECHL to get in some games since it had signed Michael Hutchinson to be its No. 3 but when Springfield needed a goalie, he was called up and his stature within the organization began to take off.
Driedger was so good for the Panthers in Springfield that they offered him a two-way NHL deal.
In training camp, he barely lost the backup job to Montembeault and went back to Springfield where he earned All-Star honors despite being called up to Florida before Thanksgiving.
Last year, Driedger was solid in net for the Panthers going 7-2-1 with a 2.05 GAA and .938 save percentage.
When he played, the Panthers usually performed.
Similar results have followed this season.
Driedger will get his ninth start of 2021 here in Game No. 17; he got 11 last year.
”Things weren’t handed to him,” Keith Yandle said Monday. “I don’t even know where he was drafted but he came in here and has earned everything.
“Talk to him about his offseason workouts and he spent it Boston working with goaltending coaches there. You know he’s committed and you’re happy for him.”