Cooley Stops 34 to End Carolina’s Streak, Neffin Has Five Shutouts in Seven Games
Plus: Juuse Saros on playing almost every night, Delaney Lawn's 53 saves for Franklin Pierce, 17-year-old Connor Haffner's 46 saves in North Bay, a U18 goalie goal in Saskatchewan, and to close, Tim Thomas's winning NHL debut at 28
In this edition 9 stories
NHL
Junior
Birthdays
Goalies in this edition 12 goalies
Every goalie named in this edition, from the NHL to junior and college.
NHL: Devin Cooley (Calgary Flames), Juuse Saros (Nashville Predators), Tim Thomas (Boston Bruins), Tom Barrasso (Pittsburgh Penguins), Kirk McLean (Vancouver Canucks), Mike Smith (Phoenix Coyotes), Jaroslav Halak (New York Islanders)
College: Delaney Lawn (Franklin Pierce)
International: Jonas Neffin (Eisbären Berlin)
Junior: Connor Haffner (Niagara IceDogs), Vilmer Salen Forsberg (Brantford Bulldogs), Adam Muntain (Regina Pat Canadians)
NHLCooley slows his breathing and stops 34 to end Carolina's streak
Devin Cooley hadn’t started since Oct. 8, and on Sunday he made 34 saves on 36 shots as the Flames beat the Hurricanes 3-2 in Calgary. The win was his first of the season, and it stopped the defending champions after seven victories in a row (The Canadian Press). Yegor Sharangovich put Calgary ahead with 4:28 to play, and Cooley kept the Hurricanes off the board in the third period, turning away Sebastian Aho and Nikolaj Ehlers in the final 1:12 after Carolina pulled its goalie for an extra skater (NHL game center).
Cooley said he used the days between starts to work on his game with goaltending coach Jason LaBarbera, and he explained what he now does when the Flames are stuck in their own end: “When that’s happening, I just try to slow my breathing down, just relax, just calm down.” The goal, he added, is to “conserve as much energy and just play a lot smarter than a lot harder.” Coach Ryan Huska was just as direct: “He was awesome,” he said. “I thought he was excellent tonight” (The Canadian Press).
In Laurence Heinen’s game story for NHL.com, Cooley said he is at his best when he stops thinking: “I’m a really bad conscious-brain goalie, if that makes sense, so I just let my unconscious brain do everything” (NHL.com). It is the same switch-off behind the mantra Colin Hodd looked at for us in April, why Cooley’s “nothing matters” mindset works for goalies: a way to stay in the moment instead of thinking about the score or the clock.
On InGoal: Devin Cooley’s Pro Reads and Pro Drills with Dustin Wolf and Flames goalie coach Jason LaBarbera.
NHLSaros has started all but one of Nashville's games, and he likes it that way
Juuse Saros made 24 saves on 26 shots on Saturday as the Predators beat the St. Louis Blues 5-2 and ended a three-game losing streak. It was his seventh start in Nashville’s eight games: Matt Murray has the other, and Justus Annunen, back from injured reserve on Oct. 15, has yet to play. Coach Andrew Brunette said he wanted Annunen to get a few more practices in before his first game, and called it unfair to put him in so soon (The Tennessean).
Heavy work is nothing new for Saros, now in his 12th season with the Predators. He has led NHL goalies in games played and saves three times, and he told Paul Skrbina of The Tennessean he has no complaints: “I enjoy it. Over the years I got used to playing a lot. I just try to make the most of it.” He also knows the limits: “Obviously we want to play, but at the same time, obviously you can’t play them all” (The Tennessean). He is 3-2-2 with a .906 save percentage (NHL.com), and Nashville has four days off before it plays in Boston on Wednesday.
On InGoal: Pro Gear: Juuse Saros explains his three “batting gloves”.
NHLESPN on Dylan Garand's month in the Rangers' net, with a word from Kevin Woodley
Dylan Garand had barely moved into an apartment in Hartford when the Rangers called him up, and since Igor Shesterkin’s season-ending knee injury on Oct. 9 the net has been his. Greg Wyshynski’s ESPN feature follows the month, from a 22-save shutout of Detroit in his first NHL start on Oct. 2 to his reply after a rough night in New Jersey: 28 saves on 29 shots in Saturday’s 1-0 overtime loss to Columbus (ESPN). “I didn’t do a good enough job of being present,” Garand said of the Devils game. “I let the self-doubt creep into my game too much.” Coach Mike Sullivan called Saturday “a huge response from him” (ESPN).
The story also asks InGoal’s Kevin Woodley, who sees some of Flames goalie Dustin Wolf in Garand: “Exceptional edges and patience. He rarely gets too wide and low too soon, all of which fuels excellent movement and positioning” (ESPN).
On InGoal: Dylan Garand’s Pro Reads and Garand’s Pro Drills, including the Shesterkin drills he uses for RVH entries.
CollegeDelaney Lawn makes 53 saves at Clarkson
Franklin Pierce goalie Delaney Lawn faced 55 shots at Clarkson on Friday and stopped 53 of them. Clarkson won 3-1, its third goal going into an empty net, and outshot the Ravens 56-9 (College Hockey News).
InternationalNeffin has five shutouts in seven games for Eisbären Berlin
In the DEL, Germany’s top league, Jonas Neffin kept the Krefeld Pinguine off the scoreboard on Sunday as Eisbären Berlin won 4-0 in Krefeld. It was his fifth shutout in seven games this season, and the win kept Berlin first in the table, now with a bigger lead (Eisbären Berlin, PENNY DEL). It was also the clubs’ first meeting in more than four and a half years. Head coach Éric Dubois said his team defended well, “and Jonas Neffin was strong again” (translated from the German; Eisbären Berlin).
That leaves Neffin 6-1 through seven games with a 0.72 goals-against average and a .973 save percentage: five goals allowed on 183 shots in just under 419 minutes (hockeyDB). It is his first season in Berlin, after Eisbären brought him up from DEL2, where he went 28-15 with six shutouts and a .929 save percentage for Regensburg last season.
On InGoal: Neffin’s fourth shutout was in our Oct. 12 edition.
JuniorConnor Haffner, 17, makes 46 saves in North Bay; Vilmer Salen Forsberg stops 42
The North Bay Battalion outshot the Niagara IceDogs 50-22 on Sunday, and 17-year-old Connor Haffner stopped 46 of those shots as Niagara won 5-4, and he was the game’s first star. North Bay had 18 shots in the third period and scored twice in the last 30 seconds with Niagara up 5-2 (OHL game report). Haffner, from Ottawa, is in his first OHL season; the IceDogs took him in the fifth round of the 2025 OHL Priority Selection, and on Oct. 13 he committed to the University of Vermont (Niagara IceDogs).
In Brantford, 17-year-old Vilmer Salen Forsberg made 42 saves on 44 shots in the Bulldogs’ 5-2 win over the Soo Greyhounds, who had 20 shots in the third period alone (OHL game report). It came two days after his 25-save shutout of Barrie, which was in our Oct. 17 edition.
JuniorU18 goalie Adam Muntain scores for the Regina Pat Canadians
Goalie goals are rare at any level, and Saskatchewan’s U18 AAA league got one on Sunday. Regina Pat Canadians goalie Adam Muntain shot the puck into the empty net with 3:24 left in the third period, an unassisted goal that made it 6-3 over the Prince Albert Mintos, and he stopped 28 of the 31 shots he faced for the win (SMAAAHL game sheet). The Pat Canadians posted the goal on Instagram (@aaapatcanadians). The league’s champions in each of the last two seasons were in Prince Albert for two games at the Art Hauser Centre that weekend (Prince Albert Daily Herald).
On InGoal: Our list of goalie goals, from the NHL to minor hockey.
HistoryTim Thomas wins his NHL debut at 28, 24 years ago today
On this day in 2002, the Bruins sent a 28-year-old goalie they had called up from Providence two days earlier into the net in Edmonton, after John Grahame hurt his shoulder. Tim Thomas stopped 31 of 34 shots in his first NHL game, and Boston won 4-3 at Skyreach Centre when rookie Ivan Huml scored his first NHL goal with 4:21 left (NHL.com, Boston Globe). Quebec had drafted Thomas in 1994, and Boston signed him as a free agent after he spent the previous season in Finland (UPI). He won the Vezina Trophy in 2009 and 2011, and the Stanley Cup and the Conn Smythe Trophy with the Bruins in 2011 (Wikipedia).
Thomas came up in our Oct. 17 edition: when Michael DiPietro won for Boston last week at 27, he became only the second Bruins goalie in almost 49 years to get his first NHL win at 27 or older. Thomas is the other.
Also on Oct. 19
- 1997: Tom Barrasso earned his 300th NHL win, making 22 saves in a Penguins win in Florida (NHL.com).
- 1997: Kirk McLean played his 500th NHL game, a 4-4 tie for Vancouver at home against Colorado (NHL.com).
- 2013: Mike Smith scored a goal, shooting the puck into Detroit’s empty net in a Phoenix Coyotes win (NHL.com).
- 2017: Jaroslav Halak played his 400th NHL game and made 38 saves as the Islanders beat the Rangers (NHL.com).
On InGoal: Tim Thomas in our Power Within III excerpt, InGoal Radio Episode 169 with Kirk McLean, and puckhandling lessons from Mike Smith.
BirthdaysGage and Petersen
Happy birthday to former Edmonton Oilers goalie Joaquin Gage (53) and Cal Petersen (32), now in goal for the AHL’s Hershey Bears (2-1 in three games so far) after 106 NHL games with the Los Angeles Kings and Philadelphia Flyers.
Born on this day: Hall of Famer Roy Worters (1900) of the New York Americans.
Have goalie news, a big save, a signing, or a coaching hire? Send it to news@ingoalmag.com.