We spent a fair amount of time this weekend analyzing the injury Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen suffered against Phoenix:
Uh-oh: Kari Lehtonen leaves game with leg injury
More Uh-oh: Dallas puts Lehtonen on IR
Nieuwendyk putting faith in Stars’ goaltending depth
And it turns out we were right to do so. Today, Stars head coach Glen Gulutzan announced that Lehtonen will miss at least three weeks with a groin injury.
“Kari will be out at least three weeks,” Gulutzan said. “We got some good news on that front as far as the MRI. It’s not a high groin pull or anything; it’s kind of a low strain, low pull. Those tend to heal a little better, so we’re looking at the three-week mark before he can get going again.”
Lehtonen will miss at least eight games, including a five-game roadie through San Jose, Los Angeles, New York (Rangers and Isles) and New Jersey. It’s a huge loss for a Dallas team that’s 2-6-1 in its last eight and relied heavily -- almost extensively -- on Lehtonen this year. He’s recorded all 13 of Dallas’ wins and the guys tagged to replace him (Andrew Raycroft and AHL callup Richard Bachman) aren’t exactly high-caliber goalies. Raycroft hasn’t won a game since January while Bachman has just over nine minutes of NHL experience.
And as mentioned in the Nieuwendyk link above, there are no immediate plans for Dallas to acquire goaltending help.
“Andrew is our guy, and we have confidence in him, and Bachman with how he played in training camp and the preseason, has has earned the chance to get a good look,” Nieuwenduk said. “It’s a lot like the quarterback position. Nobody wants to see it, but these things happen and you just have to deal with it. I think you make a commitment to team play and to playing even harder in front of the goalie who is there.”
The QB analogy is a good one, but I wonder if Nieuwendyk saw what Chicago went through with Caleb Hanie on Sunday.