Dobes Fearless Without His Glove: Should Refs Stop Play? Talbot Set to Join Burke With Nine NHL Teams

NHLTalbot set to join Burke as the only goalies to play for nine NHL teams

His first game for the Columbus Blue Jackets will make Cam Talbot the second goalie ever to suit up for nine NHL teams. The only other is Sean Burke, whose nine count the Hartford Whalers and Carolina Hurricanes separately. (NHL Stats) Columbus added the 39-year-old two-time All-Star on a one-year deal on Sept. 15, after two seasons in Detroit. “He is a big, smart, fundamentally sound goaltender who has won a lot of games in our league,” general manager Don Waddell said. (Blue Jackets)

Talbot could start Friday against Pittsburgh or Saturday against St. Louis, and he may have to do it in his old Red Wings pads and mask. Signing that close to camp left his new gear sitting in Toronto until Kay Whitmore signs off on it for the league. The Columbus Dispatch’s Brian Hedger also catches up with the family, who are living in a hotel while they look for a house. In Columbus Talbot backs up Jet Greaves, who shared Canada’s net with him at the world championship in May. Read: Cam Talbot, family enjoying new NHL stop (Columbus Dispatch).

On InGoal: Cam Talbot Pro Read 12, InGoal Radio Episode 17 with Sean Burke, and Jet Greaves Pro Reads 10.

NHLVarlamov back in an NHL net after 676 days

Semyon Varlamov was back in the New York Islanders’ crease on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden, 676 days and two partial knee replacements after his last NHL game. The 38-year-old stopped 19 of 22 shots in a 5-2 loss to the Rangers. (NHL.com)

Late in the third he dove backward to smother a puck that had bounced off the end boards into his crease. “It was awesome,” Varlamov said, adding that he was “a little bit emotional in the beginning, especially during the warm-up.” (Islanders)

Pete DeBoer sees the game as the start of a full workload, not a one-off. “Considering the circumstances, I thought he was a warrior for us in there today,” DeBoer said. “I give him full marks for what he’s gone through to come back.” He called the game “the first step for him in a long season where he’s going to play a lot of games for us.” (Islanders)

On InGoal: InGoal Radio Episode 62 with Semyon Varlamov and Oleg Romashko, and the story of his road back in yesterday’s Goalie News.

NHLLyon back on the ice in Buffalo as Ellis wins his first start of the season

Alex Lyon was back on the ice for Buffalo’s morning skate on Tuesday, practising with the team for the first time since he was hurt lunging after a loose puck in a preseason game on Sept. 24. Lindy Ruff isn’t putting a date on his return yet, and Lyon remains on injured reserve. “Been feeling good the last few days,” Lyon said. “The protocols for injury in 2026 are extensive, so I feel confident and happy and really hungry.” (Sabres.com)

That night Colten Ellis got his first start of the season and made 18 saves as the Sabres beat the Minnesota Wild 3-2 in overtime. (NHL.com)

On InGoal: Why Alex Lyon Cradles Confidence Like “Little Baby Bird” and Alex Lyon Pro Reads 11.

NHLStolarz starts the play for Gavin McKenna's first NHL point

Anthony Stolarz had a hand in Gavin McKenna’s big night. Down 3-0 in the second period, Stolarz went into the corner, collected the puck and moved it up the boards to start the breakout. McKenna sent John Tavares away through the neutral zone, and Tavares scored to get Toronto going. Stolarz and McKenna shared the assists, McKenna’s first NHL point, and McKenna scored his first goal later in the period as the Leafs came back to beat Nashville 5-4 in overtime. (NHL.com)

No Maple Leafs goalie had recorded a point since Joseph Woll on March 25. (Maple Leafs) It is the sixth assist of Stolarz’s NHL career, and he is 2-0 in two starts this season. (NHL.com)

On InGoal: InGoal Radio Episode 122 with Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll Pro Reads 17.

NHLSaros holds off three Leafs in a late scramble

Down at the other end of the same game, Juuse Saros made the kind of save goalies replay. With the score 4-4 and under four minutes left in regulation, three Toronto players piled in on his crease, and Saros scrambled from post to post to keep out every chance, the last one from Kirill Marchenko in tight. He finished with 32 saves and earned Nashville a point before Auston Matthews won it with 14 seconds left in overtime. (NHL.com)

On InGoal: Pro Gear: Juuse Saros Explains His Three “Batting Gloves”.

NHLSaros' save from another angle

The behind-the-net view of the same sequence shows how little room Saros had to work with. (NHL Slovensko)

NHLAround the league

• Jake Allen will play his 500th NHL game in his next start, a number only 84 goalies have reached. His 499th came in a 5-3 loss to the Utah Mammoth, whose power play stood at 7 for 10 on the season early in the game. (NHL.com) “Jake battled. He battled hard,” Devils coach Sheldon Keefe said. “I don’t know that we could have given him any worse of a start to a game than to face the league’s best power play as your first shot or first sequence of the game. But he battled despite the challenges that we presented him.” (Devils)
• Jacob Markstrom kept the Florida Panthers within a goal through an extended Kings 5-on-3, and Florida tied it moments after the kill ended. He finished with 19 saves in a 2-1 win in Los Angeles that closed a four-game road trip with six of eight points, and Florida Hockey Now named him the first star. (Florida Hockey Now)
• Spencer Knight stopped 26 of 28 shots in the Chicago Blackhawks’ home opener, a 4-2 win over the St. Louis Blues that gave Chicago its first points of the season. (NHL.com) He denied Pavel Buchnevich on a second-period breakaway, then slid post to post to take another chance away from him in the third. (Chicago Hockey Now)
• The Ottawa Senators called up Jonas Johansson from Belleville on Tuesday, a day after coach Travis Green said Linus Ullmark had tweaked something in the win in Boston. Johansson, 31, has played 105 NHL games across four teams. (TSN) Buffalo took him with the first pick of the third round in 2014. (InGoal) He comes up off a 36-save night that made him the first star of Belleville’s 3-2 shootout win over Rochester on Sunday. (AHL)
• With Justus Annunen on injured reserve, the Nashville Predators brought up Matt Murray from Milwaukee. The 28-year-old from St. Albert, Alta. (not the two-time Stanley Cup winner of the same name) has won 87 AHL games, and his four NHL starts all came with Dallas, where he went 2-2. (Predators) He backed up Juuse Saros in Toronto on Tuesday. (NHL.com)

On InGoal: InGoal Radio Episode 276 with Jake Allen, Pro Tips with Spencer Knight: “You’re Not the Only One that Goes Through This” and Spencer Knight Shares Bob-Inspired Stick Grip.

PWHLDivision III record-setter Natalie Stott gets her shot at Fleet camp

Natalie Stott is getting a look at pro hockey. The Boston Fleet named the Amherst College graduate to their 29-player training camp roster, one of five goalies in a group that includes Aerin Frankel. Camp opens Nov. 18 at the Boston Sports Institute. (PWHL; h/t Kyle Cushman)

Her college numbers look like something out of a video game. As a senior she went 20-3-6 in 29 starts with a 0.71 goals-against average, a .970 save percentage and 12 shutouts. (Amherst Athletics) Her 86 career wins and 45 shutouts are both Division III records (Boston Globe), and her .960 career save percentage is better than any career mark in the NCAA’s Division III record books, women’s or men’s. (NCAA women, NCAA men)

A Franklin, Mass., native, Stott played both forward and goal as a kid before settling in net by age 12, then spent four years at Williston Northampton. She opened her Amherst career with a shutout, and as a first-year she made 59 saves in a national championship game that went to triple overtime before Amherst lost 2-1. When her senior season ended she had a job lined up back at Williston, teaching math and coaching hockey and softball, but she was not done playing. “I’m not ready to give that part of my life up yet,” she told The Amherst Student. (The Amherst Student)

On InGoal: No Weird Tricks Required: Aerin Frankel and the Power of Goalie Basics and InGoal Radio Episode 346 with Aerin Frankel and Rei Halloran.

New on InGoalCam Johnson on four Kelly Cups in five years

• On InGoal Radio Episode 371, Florida Everblades goalie Cam Johnson explains how he won his fourth ECHL Kelly Cup in five years, from his “What’s important now” reset to how he uses video and what he took from 3ICE summer hockey. Listen: Cam Johnson: How the Everblades Goalie Won His Fourth Kelly Cup in Five Years.
• For parents: what to do when your goalie’s save doesn’t show up on the shot clock. Listen: When Your Goalie’s Save Doesn’t Count as a Shot.
• Gear: Vaughn’s new VCS Pro padded shirts, with a BNQ-certified neck collar, and the VPP-1 Pro padded pants. Read: Vaughn VCS Pro Padded Goalie Shirt Review.

Have goalie news, a big save, a signing, or a coaching hire? Send it to news@ingoalmag.com.