Chicago Blackhawks Fans Take Wrong Turn With Goaltender Arvid Soderblom
The Chicago Blackhawks, if anything this season, have had good goaltending between Petr Mrazek and Arvid Soderblom.
Well, one half of that tandem is gone, as Mrazek is out again, with the same problem; a groin injury. That forced Soderblom to step up to the plate against the New York Rangers, and he did, only letting up one goal and the Blackhawks getting the win, 2-1.
Throughout the season, too, in ten games, he has a 2.74 GAA and a .906 SV%, which is pretty good compared to how rough the team has looked and compared to his stats from last year. He's improved a lot over the summer.
However, he let in five goals and got pulled with 12:02 left to go in the third period in tonight's 5-4 loss to the New York Islanders. The last straw was when he let in three not-so-pretty goals in three minutes while stopping just 14 of 19 shots. Drew Commesso then got a taste of NHL play for the first time and faced two shots, where he stopped the pair.
Soderblom is facing a lot of backlash for this loss, and rightfully so, but it's just one bad game. He's been decent all season long, and there's no need for fans to overreact.
Of course, it's frustrating, as Chicago finally gets some goal support, but the Islanders score five. And if the defense plays well, the offense doesn't do anything. That's just how the whole seasons been going, can't have both worlds.
Fans shouldn't be getting on Soderblom just because they want Mrazek back; Soderblom did just fine in the backup role and is still easing into the starting position to fill Petr's void. Plus, you got to see Commesso in a Hawks uniform out on the ice for the first time.
Soderblom doesn't deserve all the backlash for one bad game. Everyone has their games. The Soderblom we saw tonight doesn't translate to the Soderblom we've seen all year. He's going to start on either Saturday against the New Jersey Devils or Sunday against the Islanders because it's a doubleheader. It's all about how he responds, and, hopefully, he returns to his original form.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 13 | 135 ANSWERS Chicago Blackhawks Fans Take Wrong Turn With Goaltender Arvid Soderblom Are you freaking out about Arvid Soderblom's performance? | ||
| Yes | 42 | 31.1 % |
| No | 93 | 68.9 % |
| List of polls | ||
