Page 32 - bon-dia-aruba-20200921

A32 sports
Dialuna 21 September 2020

Dobby' for Conn Smythe? Stars' Khudobin is making his case

NHL Network analyst Kevin es and he made some really
Weekes compared Khudo- big saves.”
bin's style to that of 2011 Those saves, 596 to be ex-
Cup champion Tim Thomas act, the most any goalie has
or six-time Vezina Trophy this postseason, have Khu-
winner and Hall of Famer dobin firmly in the race for
Dominik Hasek. In Game 1 the Conn Smythe Trophy as
alone, Khudobin made saves playoff MVP. All in a day's
with his head, shoulder, work in the eyes of the gre-
blocker and just about every garious man who is beloved
other part of his body. "I’m by teammates.
actually having fun right now “I try to focus on the next
to watch that he is not ro- shot,” Khudobin said.
botic and he doesn’t do what
everybody does," said Evgeni The Stars love that about
Nabokov, goalie coach for the Khudobin, who is technically
San Jose Sharks who has the in the final for the second
most wins of any Russian in time after backing up Tuukka
NHL history. “I was actually Rask with Boston in 2013.
laughing the other day seeing Center Tyler Seguin played
him make the save with glove with Khudobin on the Bru-
and blocker. I haven’t seen ins and is thrilled to see this
that probably in 15 years. I performance.
like that. To me, it’s just the Just don't say he's surprised.
goaltending. That’s what you
do.” “I don’t know if you ever
(AP) — Born when Kazakh- things that younger guys are seasons. Nabokov doesn't like the think about the run he could
stan was still part of the So- bringing in. I would think term “unorthodox" to de- have in him, but you defi-
viet Union, Anton Khudobin that he believes in what he’s “He’s such a competitive guy, scribe Khudobin but rather nitely see the compete he has
just wanted to make it to the doing and it’s been working he’s such a battler in the net, says that he'll do whatever it in him, the passion he has
NHL one day. Little did he now. I think he has a ton of he’s such a great teammate, takes to stop the puck. What's and just the great teammate
dream of winning the Stanley confidence and he keeps you so I’m very happy for him to perhaps best about Khudo- he is,” Seguin said. “He’s a
Cup. in it.” get the recognition that he’s bin is his ability to make the hard worker, he’s always had
When he accomplished his The Stars lead the Tampa Bay getting now,” Bowness said. timeliest of saves when the a great work ethic in prac-
first childhood goal and got Lightning after one game of “Long overdue.” game hangs in the balance, tice and I’ve known him for
a front-row seat for a deep the final and are oozing with But who saw this coming? like the third period of Game a long time back in the Bos-
playoff run practicing with confidence because of Khu- Khudobin had faced 13 play- 1 when Tampa Bay outshot ton days, so I know he’s got
the Boston Bruins in 2011, dobin. Listen to coach Rick off shots — all in relief — in Dallas 22-2. the experience. He’s been
everything changed. Bowness and his players talk his NHL playoff career be- “He’s a very good goalie,” around for a Cup run, he’s
and they'll repeatedly say fore August and has gone Lightning forward Tyler seen it all, so I wouldn’t say
“When I realized it’s not easy they're not surprised by this 13-6 with a 2.54 goals-against Johnson said. “When he’s on, this was unexpected. But it’s
to get there, it’s not easy to performance because they've average and .923 save percent- he’s on. I thought we gener- definitely obviously great to
get even to the finals, I start seen it from him the past two age. Retired goalie-turned- ated some pretty good chanc- see.”
thinking it would be a great
accomplishment at some
point to get there and win the
Cup,” Khudobin said.
He and the Dallas Stars are
three victories away thanks
in large part to Khudobin's
play in his first postseason as
a starting goaltender at age
34. While the history of the
chase for the Stanley Cup is
full of hot goalies carrying
teams through the playoffs,
the guy affectionately known
as “Dobby” is one of the un-
likeliest heroes in net after a
career as a backup and a style
of play that hasn't been seen
much in the league for de-
cades.

"I think he surprised me the
most," said Nikolai Khabibu-
lin, the only Russian goalie to
win the Stanley Cup. “He’s
really not like almost all of
the goalies right now. If I
had to describe him in a few
words, he’s like a modern
version of Martin Brodeur.
He plays totally different
than most of the guys nowa-
days, and I think part of it is
his age. When you get older,
it’s harder to get some new