Hard Times for Goaltending Icons

When in doubt, blame the goalie. The following headlines have all appeared in the past seven days. Brief excerpts from the accompanying articles included:

Brodeur Can't Bear to Look at Stats
The numbers would be bad even for the average guy. For Martin Brodeur, they're positively ghastly.

Where Have You Gone Roberto Luongo?
...and all your thrilling, acrobatic saves, a rain-soaked, darkened city turns its lonely eyes to you.

Hasek Not Worried About Slow Start
"Just because I had one or two not the best games it doesn't mean too much.''

Given Another Shot, Fernandez flops
Fernandez wasn’t terrible. He also wasn’t sharp enough to make a difference.

Kipper Yanked in Stinker
"Pulling Miikka tonight had nothing to do with Miikka's play whatsoever. I was trying to give the team a jumpstart - some kind of energy."

That last headline is a little misleading, as Calgary coach Mike Keenan absolved Miikka Kiprusoff of guilt. Still, it's not every week you count Kiprusoff, Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo, Dominik Hasek and Manny Fernandez among the goaltenders who have been benched, shelled, replaced in the second period, or held up to scrutiny for atrocious numbers.

A few established starters, like Cam Ward and Marty Turco, are putting up good numbers. But it's the former back-ups and apprentices who are setting the pace: Martin Biron is bringing joy to Philadelphia and Niklas Backstrom is almost perfect in Minnesota. Pascal Leclaire has three shutouts in five games for Columbus. Yes, Columbus.

It's the time of year when a brief, fleeting hot streak can vault a guy to the top of the stats pile. As the season grinds on, it will be interesting to see whether any of the upstarts can claim a place among the elite, and whether any of the elite are truly on the decline.

Photo: Pascal Leclaire holds his ground, for now. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)