This didn’t work out exactly as Keith Kinkaid had hoped, but the goalkeeper played well enough in the goalless draw, which supported the 4-2 defeat in Pittsburgh in his first NHL start in 465 days, so he could still win. one pretty fast.
Indeed, assuming that Igor Shesterkin is not fully recovered from the inguinal strain he sustained in New Jersey on Thursday, it is possible that Kinkaid may receive the call for Alex Georgiev to fight for the second time in a row when the Blueshirts move. in Boston for the first time a set of two games Thursday.
“We were hoping for a break,” Kinkaid said before his first start on November 30, 2019 as a member of Canadiens. “You hate to see how it happened, but I intend to take absolute control of this opportunity and prove that I belong to this league.”
Netminder, 31, from Farmingville in Suffolk County, was economical, prepared and sharp throughout and especially so early in the game, when his team was under constant pressure. The game completely overturned in the third period, with the Rangers beating the Penguins 15-1 in the final 20 minutes as they stormed Tristan Jarry’s Bastille, with Pittsburgh alone shooting the net from Sidney Crosby’s stick at 19 : 27.
“He played solid,” David Quinn said of Kinkaid. “We thought he made some early rescues that allowed us to deal with the storm. We thought they flashed us pretty early in the game and we thought we were lucky to get out of the first period 1-1 when they were over us for a long time. ”
A year after dealing with the three-door carousel, in which a colleague named Henrik Lundqvist finally woke up as the strange man in the rotation, Quinn has at least one short-term decision to make. If not Shesterkin, does the coach allow Georgiev to sit down again and participate in heavy training with goalkeeper coach Benoit Allaire?
Georgiev is 4-3-2 with a save percentage that fell below 0.900 to 897 and a GAA that rose to 3.03. According to Naturalstattrick.com, he ranks 31st in GSAA (Goals saved above average) among the 44 goalkeepers who played at least 500 minutes at -2.66 and last in the percentage of high-quality savings at .707. , Shesterkin ranks sixth in the GSAA at 5.64 and 10th in the percentage of high-quality savings at 0.838.
So, no, there is no goalkeeper controversy here, just a question of whether Kinkaid will get another shot with Georgiev outside of his game.
Kinkaid, who shares his birthday with George Steinbrenner and Uncle Sam, made 132 starts with the Devils over the five-year period from 2014-15 to 2018-19, while compiling an overall record of 64-55 -17 with a savings percentage of .906 and 2.90 GAA. He used an old-school, active, athletic approach, two-pad stacks and all that.
But the netminder’s game went sideways, following 15-18-6 / .891 / 3.36 the following year, while he relaxed with the appearance of Mackenzie Blackwood. Kinkaid spent much of last season in the AHL after signing in the summer of 2019 as a free agent with Montreal, for which he started five times in October and November. After signing a two-year contract with Rangers in October, he returned to school with Allaire.
“It’s an incredible opportunity. I was looking forward to this opportunity and I feel very prepared, ”said Kinkaid, who spent most of the year on the taxi team. “I’ve learned a lot in the last few years and Benny has helped me a lot along the way here.
“I don’t think I’ve been through too many adversities in my career until [2019-20]I did the playoffs with the devils and I think you really find out more about yourself and, you know, the ups and downs of the league at that top level all the time. I think Benny definitely helped me in terms of confidence and technique. ”
Kinkaid was strong early on, allowing his team to gain both balance and lead at 9:16 in the first period, when Jack Johnson’s left-footed lead defeated defender John Marino. But that was essentially the sum and substance of the offense in the first 40 minutes, Pittsburgh managed to control possession and the neutral zone, taking a 3-1 lead in the third period, with late goals in the first and second plus a shortened goal early in the second.
The Blueshirts, who had complete control over the third period, reduced the margin to 3-2 in the power play at 3:18 when Ryan Strome’s try for Chris Kreider replaced – yes – Marino, but Jarry prevented the team from equalizing, paving the way for Pavel Buchnevich to the right post with 2:35 left.
For the fifth time in six games against the Penguins (1-3-2), it ended in a wrong way for the Rangers. Now the Bruins, against whom the Blueshirts won one of four (1-2-1) and the coach facing a goalkeeper decision.