"He's been a wall": Flames' Markstrom has shined after lacklustre start
Jacob Markstrom has turned a corner.
He just needs the team in front of him to return the favour.
Because despite a shaky start, the Calgary Flames netminder has been among the league’s best over his past five starts.
“He’s the Marky that we know and expect,” Flames forward Blake Coleman said. “That’s the kind of competitor he is. It’s not a surprise to anybody in here that he’s playing as well as he is and giving us chances to win games. At the end of the day, we want to win for him. It’s always better to play in front of a guy you want to win for.”
Markstrom’s slumping start to the season saw him sport an 8-4-2 record, but his bloated 3.03 goals-against average and .889 save percentage in his 15 games to open the 2022-23 campaign were near the bottom of the National Hockey League.
The 32-year-old $6 million man has managed to flip the script in his past four outings logging a 2.01 goals-against and .926 save percentage — numbers much more in line with his Vezina Trophy candidate season one year ago.
“He’s been great. He’s been a wall back there,” Calgary defenceman MacKenzie Weegar said. “Obviously he thought he went through a bit of a rough patch but nobody in here thought that. We all thought he’s been a great goaltender for us. He’s been making the big stops we’ve needed at big times in the game.”
The recent run of four includes a pair of gaffes in a loss to the Montreal Canadiens that prompted his now infamous “I suck at hockey right now” sound bite.
The recent run shows he doesn’t, but his win-loss record probably isn’t helping things.
Markstrom’s just 0-3-1 during that run despite the sparkling numbers due in large part to the team’s struggles at the other end of the ice.
Calgary has netted a grand total of three goals during those four efforts.
Three.
The efforts include a 22-save performance in a 3-0 shutout loss to the Washington Capitals on November 25 and the aforementioned 2-1 loss — a 17-save pitch from Markstrom — to the Canadiens on December 1.
A 24-save outing in a 3-1 loss — two goals tagged to Markstrom — to the Columbus Blue Jackets, and a herculean 37-save effort which featured seven saves in overtime to force a shootout before eventually falling 2-1 at Montreal, are also contained in the run.
The goalie’s turned his fortunes.
The shooters in front of him, however, haven’t.
Yet.
“It’s unfortunate, really,” Coleman said. “He’s deserved better outcomes in his last few starts. We try to emphasize it. We try to play for Marky. He’s a great guy, great leader on our team. We’ve just got to give him the run support. No excuses.
“You’ve got to find a way to get pucks to the net and lift a guy like that up because he’s the reason we’ve been in a couple games. He’s drawn some criticism in the media over the last month that we don’t feel was deserved.
“It’s on the players to pick him up.”
Follow Channels and Categories