By Craig Skinner
Patrick Lalime proves his net worth to the Ottawa Senators
In just a few games, Patrick Lalime has helped change the Ottawa Senators’ goaltending situation from a question mark to an exclamation point.
Heading into this season, many pundits panned Ottawa’s goalies, including Sports Illustrated, which, in its National Hockey League preview, ranked the Senators’ goaltending 24th out of 30 teams and wrote “Need upgrade here; no proven No. 1.”
It’s still early in the season, but Lalime has come out battling. Anyone doubting his ability to excel as a No. 1 goalie in the NHL has been silenced rather quickly.
Wins over Dallas’ Ed Belfour, New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur and Toronto’s Curtis Joseph — three of the league’s top goalies — in three consecutive games tend to have that effect.
Lalime’s outstanding play has won the admiration of the fans and the local media —headlines such as “Lalime ‘unbelievable’ in net,” “Lalime comes through again,” and “St. Patrick’s Day” will attest to that.
The latter headline, which trumpeted Lalime’s blanking of the Toronto Maple Leafs, appeared on the front page of the Oct. 15 Ottawa Sun and quickly brought to mind another successful French-Canadian goalie who has long been known as St. Patrick — Colorado’s Patrick Roy.
The 26-year-old Lalime has a long way to go to equal the career achievements of Roy, who recently became the league’s all-time leader in wins, passing the legendary Terry Sawchuck. But Lalime did achieve sainthood in the eyes of Senators fans, for at least one night, by exacting some revenge for Ottawa’s first-round playoff series loss to the Maple Leafs last season.
Ottawa fans had their celebration cut short when it was discovered that Lalime sprained the medial collateral ligament in his left knee during the game and was expected to be kept out of action for close to two weeks. Fans across the city lamented the loss of their new star.
It is unlikely, however, Lalime will let his new-found star status go to his head because he knows, better than anyone, how quickly things can change in the cruel world of the NHL.
Only a few years ago, during the 1996-97 season, Lalime debuted as an unheralded rookie with the Pittsburgh Penguins and proceeded to net a league record with a 16-game unbeaten streak to start his career.
After a contract dispute with the Penguins following his rookie season, Lalime found himself in the minors for two long years, assigned to Grand Rapids and Kansas City, before resurfacing as a backup with the Senators last year.
This experience hasn’t affected Lalime’s confidence and during the early stages of training camp this year Lalime was quoted in the Sept. 13 Ottawa Citizen as saying he was more than ready to be the main man between the pipes for the Senators.
“I’m looking forward to the chance of being No. 1,” he said. “That’s what everyone wants since they are kids… I know I can do the job.”
And do the job he has, living out his childhood dreams and fueling the Stanley Cup dreams of Senators fans everywhere in the process.