The modern NHL backup is a patient man.
His job is to stay sharp in case of injury, or as has become tradition, for when his team is already at a significant disadvantage on the second night of a back-to-back.
Friday night saw six backups get playing time, with mixed results.
Washington’s Philipp Grubauer was strong in a 4-1 win over Buffalo, while New Jersey’s Keith Kinkaid couldn’t overcome the Blues in a loss at home.
There’s more from the backups below, as well as a look at what’s going on with those up-and-down Oilers.
Here are four things we learned.
Raanta’s return was splendid
New York Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault made the curious decision to give Antti Raanta a second start in two nights over Henrik Lundqvist.
“I think everybody knows Hank’s the guy, and Hank’s our No. 1, but at this time, I think Antti’s game is just a little bit better than Hank,” said Vigneault.
The Rangers bench boss also alluded to Raanta’s familiarity with Chicago’s United Center, having spent two seasons with the Blackhawks before joining the Rangers in 2015.
Raanta entered Friday’s game against Chicago with a 14-0-3 record at the Madhouse, with three shutouts and a .942 save percentage in 19 games, all with the Blackhawks.
Chicago countered with Scott Darling in what turned out to be an epic goaltending duel.
Both Darling and Raanta kept their teams alive with incredible saves in a game that went to overtime at 0-0. Raanta and the Rangers prevailed thanks to Nick Holden‘s heroics, but the night belonged to the two netminders.
Bernier gets some redemption
You had to feel for Jonathan Bernier after the Ducks’ No. 2 gave up eight goals to Calgary on Sunday.
He got his first start since, facing the high-powered San Jose Sharks on Friday.
Bernier was solid, stopping 22 of 24 shots to get his fifth win of the season.
The Ducks entered the game with a 59-59-4-7 record against their state rivals (that’s four ties), and were even with the Sharks in the standings at 31 points.
By game’s end, Anaheim, which started the season missing its two best young players (Hampus Lindholm and Rickard Rakell) had vaulted itself into the top spot in the Pacific Division.
Lindholm and Rakell both scored in the win, in case you were wondering.
Mrazek had a tough night
Petr Mrazek hasn’t quite taken off this season as was expected of the Czech goaltender following an impressive 2015-16 campaign.
The 24-year-old entered Friday’s contest against Columbus with a .908 save percentage and an 8-5-3 record.
He gave up a short-handed goal to Cam Atkinson to open the scoring and some confusion with the officials led to Brandon Dubinsky potting just his third of the season.
Mrazek would give up a juicy rebound to Lukas Sedlak minutes later, and was pulled in favour of Jimmy Howard after allowing three goals on 16 shots.
Howard was fine, he made seven saves and didn’t give up a goal, but the damage was done.
Sam Gagner iced the game with a long-range empty-net dribbler as the Blue Jackets won their fifth straight game.
It was John Tortorella’s 100th game behind the Columbus bench.
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Edmonton’s slide continued
How Friday night went for the Edmonton Oilers really depends on your perspective.
They came from behind against a stingy Minnesota Wild team boasting the NHL save percentage leader in Devan Dubnyk, to force a shootout, which they lost.
It was Edmonton’s fourth straight loss (that’s seven defeats in nine games now), but coming back for a point on the road on the second half of a back-to-back after a tough defeat in Philadelphia is a nice silver lining.
The Oilers have gotten a point in four of their past five games and they’re tied with Anaheim for the Pacific Division lead.
Things have been worse for them.