Aside from the occasional night off – or the even less common instance when a save or goal isn’t deemed worthy – the gang at PHT will decide which tally or stop is the best of any given night. Once those two winners are determined, we’ll share our reasoning (and most importantly, the video clip for each) in posts for your viewing pleasure.
The Tampa Bay Lightning find themselves in first place in the Southeast Division, but most (if not all) who follow the team will agree that strong goaltending hasn’t been the reason why they have been successful.
Their three goalies are in very different situations. Dwayne Roloson might be the top dog right now, but at 41 years old, it is clear that he’s close to the end. Mike Smith was sent down to the AHL for a conditioning stint, but the injury prone goalie must feel like the odd man out.
The one guy who can really make a place for himself on this burgeoning contender is Dan Ellis. His inability to hold onto the starting job is why GM Steve Yzerman made the move to acquire Roloson in the first place, but Ellis still has a shot to build a future in Tampa Bay. We’re still waiting on the results to the Ellis experiment, but if he produces more games like his 29-for-30-saves evening, he might be onto something.
Here’s his best save of Friday night, which also happened to be the best of January 21st.
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