fell off the face of the earth due to a situationship with a goalie , so hi here’s my hockey debrief because what the fuck
wild first round exit hurt me less this year than last year’s, and i will consider it as growth. year 2 of being a wild fan and i am getting accustomed to it! (smiling through the pain)
leafs ??? in the second round ??? only to be down 3 in the series against FLORIDA ???
frrrr. putting gus in the net for the remainder of the game would tbh just be an excessive amount of pressure and even a risk of injury to save the game when it isn't exactly detrimental to lose this game
still baffled why gus didn't start today, I hope there's an actual reason. double OT is obviously abnormal for a player, but so is switching your goalie mid-series (literally after playing a single game) after what was also an insane performance. I think staff consistently underestimate gus' abilities and overestimate how equal this tandem is. regardless, even if gus had let in all six of these goals (I don't think he would have, but let's pretend), it would still have been better to play the better-performing goalie and show he's trusted!
while i agree that gus should definitely start next game (and frankly i'm surprised that they kept flower in for the third here), i think dean made the right choice to give gus a break here. don't forget that he's completely new to playoffs, plus he's a relatively young goaltender. and this is the first time he's really given the starter role, let alone a playoff starter for a contending team. i think he's definitely capable, but since this isn't a must-win game it makes sense to give him time to recuperate after playing his first ever playoff game and having it go to multiple ot.
also as lis already pointed out, one of the wild's biggest problems in last year's playoffs was sticking too long with fleury and putting cam in to start a must-win game after not having played for a week. that backfired on them tremendously and we ended up losing miserably, so it makes sense that in a game where gus could use a break, we've eliminated home-ice advantage, AND it's a low-stakes outcome, dean would give fleury a chance to stretch his legs.