The veteran netminder has held the fort admirably in two overtime wins.
Springfield goalie Curtis McElhinney keeps an eye on Manchester's Linden Vey Saturday in Game 1 of the Calder Cup playoffs at the MassMutual Center in Springfield. In two overtime playoff victories, Curtis McElhinney of the Springfield Falcons has 70 saves and a 1.21 goals-against average.
The numbers only tell part of his story. His stellar work at clearing pucks – and oftentimes smothering them – has been instrumental in helping his team take a 2-0 lead over the Manchester Monarchs in their American Hockey League first-round series.
One of the keys to those overtime games was his ability to smother pucks as opposing attackers buzzed around his net. That tactic breaks the rhythm of an attacking team, but more importantly, causes faceoffs.
“Smothering the puck gives guys a little break at a time when they’re really working hard,” McElhinney said. “It makes for shorter shifts, too, and that helps.”
McElhinney’s postseason work is merely a continuation of what he did for the Falcons all season. He has been Mr. Consistency going all the way back to training camp, when he won the starting job.
“We got the playoff start we wanted over the weekend. Those were pretty exciting games, and it was nice to win in overtime, because we didn’t have a great record (0-5) in OT during the season,” he said.
Of course, regular-season overtime lasts only five minutes. Playoff overtime is played in 20-minute sudden death periods.
In Sunday’s game, McElhinney excelled in overtime, turning aside 13 shots as the Monarchs controlled play. It was not until the last two minutes that the momentum changed and the Falcons won on a goal by Cody Bass.
“I felt great in the weekend games. I got quite a bit of rest during the last week of our regular schedule. I was able to work on a few things in practice, and I really felt ready when the playoffs started,” McElhinney said.
He said he feels re-energized by the playoffs.
“Toward the end, the season was kind of dragging out, but the playoffs are like a whole new start.”
WATCH THAT NICK: So far, the Falcons have shackled Manchester’s top scoring threat, Linden Vey. Manchester's leading scorer, Tyler Toffoli, is on recall to the Los Angeles Kings.
Meanwhile, 22-year-old defenseman Nick Deslauriers has been hard to handle. He had an assist in Game 1 and a power-play goal in Game 2 that tied the score at 1-1.
Deslauriers, a mobile 6-foot-1, 230-pounder from LaSalle, Quebec, came to the Monarchs in the 2011-12 season as a rookie from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Over his two AHL seasons, he has played 128 games.
ICE CHIPS: Perish the thought, but if the Falcons have to play Game 4 on Saturday, the team would stay in Manchester and work out at Verizon Wireless Arena on Friday ... Martin Jones, McElhinney’s counterpart, has been very tough in the playoffs as well, making 68 saves and posting a 2.01 goals-against average. He was a workhorse in Manchester’s drive for a playoff spot, playing 29 of the team’s last 30 games ... If Manchester draws up to its regular-season attendance average, the Monarchs will have 6,000 fans rooting for them Thursday night. The Falcons have averaged 3,037 for their playoff games so far.