Goalie pleased years of losing are over Capitals goalie Tomas Vokoun is not used to this. His has been a career spent propping up bad hockey teams. Now, after events beyond his control landed him a job with a Stanley Cup contender at a relatively cheap $1.5 million price tag this summer, Vokoun is experiencing life on the other side.
Washington is 7-0-0 to start the 2011-12 season. That is the franchise record for wins to begin a campaign, and Vokoun — save for one bad outing — has played a large role in that fast start. He has a 6-0 record, 1.80 goals-against average and a .944 save percentage. Vokoun earned NHL third star of the week honors Monday for his play in three wins last week against Florida, Philadelphia and Detroit. He posted a GAA of 1.00 and a save percentage of .968.
“I’m a believer that if you work hard and you’re in right places, more often you’re going to get the breaks,” Vokoun said. “We’ve been on a roll. It’s good feeling — trust me. I’ve been playing losing hockey for a long time, and it’s really tough. No matter how we win I enjoy it. My job is to stop the puck, and that’s all I’m worried about.”
| Up next |
| Capitals at Oilers |
| When » Thursday, 9:30 p.m. |
| Where » Rexall Place, |
| Edmonton, Alberta |
| TV » CSN |
Vokoun gave up five goals on 28 shots in a rough first start of the season Oct. 10 against Tampa Bay. He has been nothing short of brilliant since, facing 170 shots and stopping 164 for a save percentage of .965. He has taken full advantage of Michal Neuvirth’s right foot injury to start six of Washington’s seven games. Neuvirth did participate in practice Monday and is expected to travel with the team to Edmonton and Vancouver on this week’s western Canada trip.
“[Vokoun] battles so hard even when guys are in front of him and he’s making those extra saves,” Washington defenseman Mike Green said after Saturday’s 7-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings. “He’s just been outstanding. I don’t want to pump him up too much, but it’s a pleasure to play in front of him.”
Vokoun actually won his first seven starts of the 2005-06 season with the Nashville Predators, allowing 15 goals on 222 shots. But that was a long time ago on a team that started 8-0-1 before eventually losing in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Vokoun has been on a playoff team only three times since he became a full-time NHL pro. That shouldn’t be an issue this season.
“I’m happy the way things went, but there’s so much work and so many games to play. We don’t want to be too comfortable,” Vokoun said. “That’s when things can change quickly in a hurry. You’re sitting there after maybe one bad week and saying, ‘Oh, my god. What happened? How can we go from here to that?’ All of the sudden all the good press is bad press and I’ve been there before. For us it’s focusing on the task at hand.”
