Alexandar Georgiev had a dismal performance against the Pittsburgh Penguins allowing three goals in a span of 61 seconds. He was pulled in favor of Keith Kinkaid after allowing those three goals on the first six shots he faced. The New York Rangers lost the game 5-1.
1️⃣-1️⃣
— NBC Sports Hockey (@NBCSportsHockey) March 8, 2021
The @penguins answer back with a John Marino goal to tie the game.#LetsGoPens pic.twitter.com/MdlFmrMqnc
Georgiev’s bad outing came when he was making consecutive starts on consecutive days. There is a belief that he has not done well when getting consecutive starts. We decided to look at his career record to see how if that is true.
It is true. Here are the numbers.
Since his NHL debut in 2017-18, Georgiev has started consecutive games 30 times. The Rangers’ record in those 30 games is 11-18-1.
Sunday night was the seventh time that Georgiev has started games on consecutive calendar days in his career.. The team has lost five of those seven games.
The Rangers were fortunate for 15 years to have a goaltender who thrived on a heavy workload. Henrik Lundqvist wanted to start every game and had over 70 starts in four seasons. Throughout his career he had stretches where he started almost every game. In 2010-11, Lundqvist started the last 26 games in the season and followed that with five playoff games. in 2014 he started 25 straight playoff games.
Until Alexandar Georgiev proves that he can win multiple starts in a row, he will be relegated to be nothing more than a capable back up who can occasionally steal a game. It’s a cause for concern. Here’s how he has done year by year.