Despite being one of the hottest goalies in the league, Cam Talbot will be on the bench when the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues begin their best-of-seven playoff series Monday night in St. Paul.
The Wild instead are starting three-time Stanley Cup champ and future Hall of Famer Marc-Andre Fleury, despite Talbot being 13-0-3 in his past 16 starts and riding the longest points streak by a goalie in franchise history.
But Fleury is one of the all-time great playoff goalies. His 90 career playoff wins are fourth most in NHL history, and he’s the owner of three championship rings. And even though he’s been outplayed by Talbot down the stretch, he’s still 9-2 with a 2.74 goals-against average since being traded to the Wild.
“We talked before that it’s not a tough decision. It’s an easy decision because we feel both are more than capable of starting for us here,” head coach Dean Evason said after Monday’s morning skate. “We’re excited about he opportunity to have both guys available if we need, and we probably will.”
Talbot started all three games for the Wild against the Blues during the regular season, all of which were losses. He allowed 16 goals and made 77 saves, though it’s worth noting that six of the goals were allowed in the sub-zero temperature game on New Year’s Day for the Winter Classic at Target Field.
Fleury started three games against the Blues, albeit while playing behind a porous Chicago defense. He got lit up for four goals and five goals in his two latest starts against the Blues, but also made 36 of 37 saves in a 1-0 defeat the day before Halloween.
Related: Here’s the schedule for the best-of-seven series between the Wild, Blues
