First Star of the Week and First in Our Hearts
October 19th, 2009 | by johnearnhart |The most surprising element to the Coyotes’ great start has been Ilya Bryzgalov. He was recently awarded the NHL’s First Star of the Week after going 3-0 with a .95 GAA and a save percentage of .959. Oh, Brizzy also shut out the San Jose Sharks to start the week.
He faced a total of 73 shots last week and stopped 70 of them (technically, 71; I’m still bitter about Paul Kariya’s sloppy goal). But I’ll stop whining about that goal and cheer myself up with my favorite Brizzy interview:
“Why you have to be mad?” Haha.
As far as the season is concerned, Bryzgalov is 5-1-0. The recent leader of the pack ranks first among all starting goaltenders in GAA (1.14), save percentage (.953) and shutouts (2).
He has been the catalyst to the Coyotes’ surprising start, 5-2-0 record and first place title in the Pacific Division. Sadly, the next time we’ll see Bryzgalov in action is Thursday night when the Detroit Red Wings come to town.
For fantasy owners, don’t kick yourselves too hard for not going after Bryzgalov. Granted, he is outplaying fellow fantasy, goaltending studs like Roberto Luongo, Evgeni Nabokov and Marc-Andre Fleury but if there’s one thing Brizzy is known for in Phoenix its his streakiness. Last year, he played his best in the months of November and December. So, this could easily be a hot streak or the beginning of a career year. Who knows? It is still too early in the season to make any more assessments other than bragging rights.
Now, Coyote Nation needs a new nickname for Bryzgalov. Here are a few of my choices:
1. Bryle E. Goalie
2. Easy, Brizzy, beautiful Phoenix Guy
3. The Other Ilya
I strongly encourage your suggestions because mine are horrible.
