When an NHLer plays a road game in his home city, a coach will usually do something special like put him in the starting lineup for the game. But that won’t happen for John Gibson tonight.
With Gibson and the Ducks playing in Pittsburgh (his hometown), head coach Randy Carlyle has decided to start Jonathan Bernier.
You might be asking yourself why Carlyle would do such a thing.
Well, the answer is pretty simple. Gibson has allowed six goals in each of his last two outings in his hometown .
“I obviously take into consideration if it his hometown, that usually has some bearing on it,” Carlyle said, per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “His record against the Penguins in this building, that has a bearing on it and where we are as a team and what his last start was. All those things are factors into making that decision.”
Marc-Andre Fleury will make his second straight start for the Pens.
Elsewhere...
--Thomas Greiss will make his first start of the season for the New York Islanders. No surprise, as Braden Holtby will be between the pipes for the Caps.
--Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask will faceoff against the team that drafted him. The Maple Leafs counter with Frederik Andersen.
--Martin Jones gets the nod for the Sharks, while the Jackets will likely give Sergei Bobrovsky the start.
--Cory Schneider starts for the Devils. The Bolts will give Andrei Vasilevskiy his first game action of the 2016-17 regular season.
--With Carey Price still out because of the flu, Al Montoya will start for Montreal. Craig Anderson gets the call for the Sens.
--Jets goalie Michael Hutchinson will make his regular season debut. As expected, Devan Dubnyk goes for Minnesota.
--After getting shelled for six goals against the Lightning on Thursday, the Red Wings are going back to Petr Mrazek. Veteran Roberto Luongo will make his second appearance of the season for Florida.
--Look for Henrik Lundqvist to start for the Rangers. As we mentioned in a previous post, Carter Hutton plays his first game as a St. Louis Blue.
--Pekka Rinne and Corey Crawford went head-to-head last night. Expect Rinne to be in goal again (not confirmed) and Scott Darling to be the likely start for the ‘Hawks.
--Steve Mason is expected to make his 2016-17 debut for the Flyers. The Arizona Coyotes have announced that Mike Smith will start in this one.
--The Stars have yet to announce a starter tonight, but Antti Niemi was in goal for their win against Anaheim. Semyon Varlamov will start for Colorado in their home opener.
--After getting lit up by the Oilers twice this week, Brian Elliott will get the night off, as Chad Johnson makes his first start for the Flames. Ryan Miller gets the nod for Vancouver.