Kari Lehtonen Is Not Helping The Dallas Stars Playoff Hopes

The Dallas Stars entered the 2014-2015 season with high hopes of a quality playoff spot and potential Stanley Cup run. As a part of that, they expected starting goaltender Kari Lehtonen to gallop into one of his best years ever in the NHL. Instead, he has largely contributed to their ultimate demise.

With a decent start to the year, followed by a bad stretch through January that looked to be cleaned up as of last week, Kari Lehtonen has now proven that he will be the one to run the Dallas Stars into the early awaiting offseason.

Kari Lehtonen now sits with a .905 save percentage and a 2.97 goals against average. That marks the lowest save percentage of his career and the highest goals against average in his six seasons with Dallas. He now holds the 33rd best save percentage in the league and the 37th best goals against average in the league. This of course means that there are backup goaltenders averaging better numbers than Lehtonen.

But with the Dallas Stars playoff hopes all but extinguished after a loss Friday night to the Colorado Avalanche, Kari Lehtonen proved that he is the difference maker in the Stars overall game plan.

Lehtonen shone bright and carried the Dallas Stars to four straight wins against the likes of New York Rangers, Boston Bruins, Florida Panthers, and St. Louis Blues from February 8th-17th. During the span, he sported a .960 save percentage and a 1.50 goals against average, including one shutout.

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But the Finnish goaltender was unable to answer the bell when the Stars needed him most. After the winning streak and the Stars playoff chances increasing, Lehtonen hit what seems to be a rather massive bump. Two days after the Dallas Stars pummeled the St. Louis Blues on the road, Lehtonen was called to duty in a critical game between the San Jose Sharks in regards to playoff standing. Lehtonen folded early and was subbed out for Jhonas Enroth with 13:46 left in the second period after surrendering three goals on 17 shots. The game resulted in a 5-2 loss for the Stars, and Lehtonen was recalled for duty Saturday against the Detroit Red Wings. The Stars ended up losing this game as well despite scoring six goals on the attack, while Lehtonen gave away six and an early seventh in overtime.

But a rather painful loss must be Friday night’s to the Colorado Avalanche. Lehtonen played for the first time since the Detroit game after suffering from a “medical issue” early in the week. Kari Lehtonen was granted three different leads from the somewhat depleted Dallas Stars offense, including one two-goal lead early in the third period. Lehtonen forfeited four goals to the Avalanche through regulation, allowing two deflections and one long-range slap shot that was deemed a shot that “should never go in” by Daryl Reaugh. Lehtonen seemed to regain focus in overtime, but eventually lost in the shootout after giving a goal to the first Colorado shooter.

Over the last three games that Lehtonen has played in, his save percentage rests at .819 and his goals against average at 4.66. As a result, the Dallas Stars are 0-1-2 in those “crucial” games against other Western Conference teams fighting for the same spots the Stars are. The Dallas Stars may go weak when they have a third period lead, but a goalie is paid to make some saves, and Kari Lehtonen has not been able to make the ones that matter most.

“The goaltending doesn’t match the effort of the team right now. You need goaltending. It’s as simple as that.” -Lindy Ruff

With the overtime loss, the Stars now fall into last place among the teams that still remain realistically in the race for the wild card (everyone except the division leaders, Arizona Coyotes, and Edmonton Oilers). They rest seven points out of the final wild card spot with a game out of hand and three other teams sitting above them looking much more competent of overtaking that spot.

It’s as simple as that, and Kari Lehtonen can hold a fair portion of the blame, though the Stars should have never been in this position from October 9th until the present. Monday’s trade deadline was just made a lot more interesting in regards to the Stars after tonight’s loss.

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