Photo credit: Kim Klement

At the beginning of December, Bears goalie Philipp Grubauer sunk his German claws into the Caps’ number-one spot and didn’t let go until the new year.

By the Numbers

Peter’s Take

By early December, Michal Neuvirth was hurt and Braden Holtby was faltering, so Adam Oates– the goalie whisperer– tapped Philipp Grubauer to take some starts. Grubi earned his first NHL win by saving 30 of 31 against the Rangers on December 8th, and he kinda instantly shook up Washington’s goalie depth charts.

It was no fault of his own, but the presence of Grubi created a three-headed monster in front of the Washington net, which sucked ferociously for everyone (else) involved.

Grubauer put up astonishing numbers through the new year before– well, I don’t wanna use the word faltering, because all he did was play like a mortal for the first time.

Grubi’s numbers took a “tumble” in mid January, and then Jaroslav Halak came to town.

With Halak not long for Washington, Philipp Grubauer looks poised to challenge Holtby for first dibs on the net again.

Grubi on RMNB

• First: “I’m just happy to be up here, and I work my butt off.”
• And then Oates was all, “He’s only played a couple games but I feel comfortable with him right now.”
• And then I was all, yeah, but it’s only a few games and that doesn’t tell us much and everyone was like shut up nerd.
• And then everything sucked and Oates was all, “Three goalies is not a good situation– a little dysfunctional for everybody, but it’s a situation that, unfortunately, just happened.” Note the use of passive voice to describe a situation that he personally created. I want the Caps to hire him again just so they can fire him again.
• Olie Kolzig’s reported reaction to Grubi’s excellent splits: “Your groins! How do you do that?”

In Pictures

Ludicrous split save. Palat should’ve been moar jokes.

His mask is awesome. Just the name alone… tops.

Your Turn

Isn’t analyzing goalies hard? They just feel like random number generators to me. I’m not into saying stuff like, “he made the big saves,” or “look at the confidence on him,” or “the team just plays better with him back there.” So, uhhh… you guys can do that.

Read more: Japers Rink