The Skinny on 4 Goalies

Last night was a strange night at Barclays.  As I noted earlier, it was the first Isles game since December 23, 1989 vs Pittsburgh in which each team scored five goals in the first two periods.

Both teams also pulled their starting goaltender in the 2nd period.  While that is not all that uncommon, as the following list shows, it is very uncommon for both teams to pull a goalie for ineffective play.

Each Team Using 2 Goalies (Since 1987-88)

12/1/17 Vs Vancouver (Greiss pulled, Anderson pulled)

2/13/16 @ Carolina (Halak pulled, Ward injured)

3/27/12 @ Pit (Nabokov injury, Fleury pulled)

2/2/11 @ Pit (DiPietro & Johnson ejected)

1/21/11 vs Buf (Lawson injured; Miller pulled)

1/26/10 vs Was (Roloson pulled, Theodore injured)

1/4/06 vs Fla (Snow injured; McLennan injured)

11/21/02 @TB (Snow ejected; Khabibulin pulled)

2/4/02 @ Florida (Osgood pulled; Luongo pulled)

11/27/00 Vs Florida (VBK injured; Weeks pulled)

4/4/98 vs NYR (Salo ejected; Cloutier ejected)

12/21/97 @ Pit (Salo pulled; Barrasso injured)

3/29/97 vs Bos (Salo injured; Carey pulled)

11/9/96 @ NJ  (Salo pulled; Brodeur pulled to allow Dunham to play :41)

12/12/89 Vs NJ (Fitzpatrick pulled, Terreri rested with Devils leading big)

1/14/88 Vs Que (Hrudey pulled, Tugnutt pulled)

So, you have to go back to February 4, 2002 in Florida to find an Islander game where both goalies were pulled (a game that eventually ended 6-6).  Before that it hadn't happened since 1996, when Marty Brodeur was rested for 41 seconds to get Mike Dunham on the ice as the Devils were trying to get him into enough games to preserve his rights.

There hasn't been an Islander home game where both goalies were voluntarily pulled since December 12, 1989 vs New Jersey, but in that game Chris Terreri was just rested for the 3rd period.  The last time both goalies were pulled in an Islander home game for ineffctive play was on January 14 1988 vs. Quebec when both Kelly Hrudey and Ron Tugnutt were pulled early. The Isles led that game 6-5 after two periods, and won it 8-5.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick