Ben Scrivens will be Edmonton’s starting goalie tonight at home versus the Canucks.
And he’s guaranteed his coach the win.
“In my conversation with him, he was like, ‘I’m going to win that game,’” Dallas Eakins said today. “The kid’s a battler. He’s one of those guys, undrafted, who’s fought his way to this level. He’s earned his spot. And that’s what you want out of your players. He’s not cowering from where we’re at right now (0-3-1), nor is any one of our players. That’s the kind of intestinal fortitude that you need.”
As we noted yesterday, Scrivens is off to a rough start. The 28-year-old is 0-2-0 with a 5.21 goals-against average and .800 save percentage. But with Viktor Fasth injured, it was either Scrivens or AHL call-up Richard Bachman getting the nod tonight.
It wasn’t a tough decision, according to Eakins.
“I think Ben’s in a good frame of mind,” he said. “He desperately wanted the start. He wanted to get back in there. He knows he’s the guy and we have confidence that he’ll play well.”