Bobrovsky Closes In on Lundqvist, Desbiens Leads Canada’s Goalies for the Women’s Worlds

NHLGarand keeps the Rangers perfect at home, and Dubnyk on the pressure that comes next

Dylan Garand made 29 saves on 31 shots as the Rangers beat Anaheim 5-2 at Madison Square Garden on Monday, and he was 69 seconds from a shutout when Nick Jensen’s slap shot from the slot beat him at 18:51 of the third. A second Ducks goal went in off him 36 seconds later. New York is 6-0-0 at home, its best start there since 1990-91, when it won its first eight, and Garand has held the opposition to two goals or fewer in all but one of his six starts this season. Coach Mike Sullivan said his expectation, “just based on his body of work here, is that he’s going to win,” adding: “He’s given us a chance to win night in and night out, and that’s what we’re asking of him” (NHL.com).

What happens once that is expected of a young goalie was the subject for Devan Dubnyk on Monday’s Daily Faceoff LIVE, hosted by Carter Hutton, with InGoal’s Kevin Woodley also on the panel. Dubnyk lived it: after his 2015 trade to Minnesota he played 38 games in a row, and nobody was counting on him, so “it was all bonus time.” He put Garand in that spot today: “There are no expectations for him and he is a good goalie and he is capable of playing in the NHL.” Once a goalie is expected to carry the team, Dubnyk said, the adjustment takes time, and “it’s not that you can’t do it but those pressures change” (Daily Faceoff).

On InGoal: Dylan Garand’s Pro Reads, InGoal Radio Episode 305 with Devan Dubnyk, and ESPN’s look at Garand’s month in New York, in our Oct. 19 edition.

NHLCossa's late pad stop wins his first home start for Utah

Sebastian Cossa had a crowd of bodies in front of him in the last seconds on Monday, with Utah ahead of Pittsburgh 5-4, when Ben Kindel got a chance from right in tight. Cossa stretched out his left pad to stop it and keep the win, his first in an NHL start at home. He finished with 15 saves (NHL.com). “I was like, ‘Is the game over yet?'” Cossa said of the final scramble, and coach André Tourigny was glad for him: “Good to get a win in front of our fans for him” (NHL.com). Detroit drafted Cossa 15th overall in 2021, and Monday’s win was the third of his NHL career (NHL.com).

On InGoal: InGoal Radio Episode 134 with Sebastian Cossa and Kurtis Mucha.

NHLFowler's screen work with Marco Marciano, and why he isn't counting wins

A few deflections in close had beaten Jacob Fowler in his first three games with Montreal, so goaltending coach Marco Marciano gave Saturday morning’s session at the Bell Centre to screened shots, and coach Martin St-Louis, who usually leaves the goalies to their coach, stayed to watch. Against Buffalo that night, Fowler stayed square to the shooter even when traffic took away his view of the puck, The Hockey News’ Karine Hains wrote (The Hockey News). He made 23 saves on 26 shots, and the Canadiens won 4-3 in overtime (NHL game center).

In a clip posted Monday, Fowler said results aren’t what he measures himself by: “I’m not really worried about the wins and losses.” He allowed that two points make the drive home more fun, but the aim is the one he had in Laval at the start of the season, “to just kind of be the best version of myself every time I take the net” (video posted on X by Chris G, @ChrisHabs360).

On InGoal: InGoal Radio Episode 339 with Jacob Fowler.

AHLCooper Black on the mental side of goaltending, on the Checkers' podcast

Cooper Black is the guest on Episode 3 of Checking In, the Charlotte Checkers’ official podcast, hosted by Checkers broadcaster Cristiano Simonetta. Black talks about the mental side of playing goal, what life is really like at 6-foot-9, and his love of animals. The episode came out Oct. 15 and is on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Florida called him up from Charlotte on Oct. 13, as our Oct. 13 edition reported.

On InGoal: InGoal Radio Episode 352 with Cooper Black.

U SPORTSGrace Deveau makes 48 saves to win her first game for Trinity Western

Grace Deveau waited until Saturday for her first U SPORTS game, and UBC tested her all night: the Thunderbirds put 49 shots on goal in Langley, Deveau stopped 48, and Trinity Western won 4-1. It was the Spartans’ first win over UBC since 2023, a night after the Thunderbirds had beaten them 4-0 in Vancouver, and the first over UBC for coach Peter Hay. “It was a huge game from Grace Deveau, who played her first U sport game and got her first win,” Hay said (Trinity Western Spartans).

Around U SPORTS

• Windsor’s Max Donoso, the reigning OUA West goalie of the year, stopped all 39 shots in a 3-0 win over Western on Saturday, a season high in saves and his first shutout of the season, as the Lancers swept the Mustangs (Windsor Lancers).
• Laurier’s Andrew Ness made 45 saves on 47 shots as the Golden Hawks beat Guelph 3-2 in overtime on Saturday for his first win of the season. “We had to earn it, but it’s definitely a good feeling,” he said (Laurier Golden Hawks).

Updated 8:02 AM PT

InternationalCanada and Sweden name their goalies for the Women's Worlds

Hockey Canada named its 25 players for the IIHF Women’s World Championship on Monday, and the goalies are Ann-Renée Desbiens, Kayle Osborne, and Ève Gascon. The tournament runs Nov. 6-16 in Herning and Esbjerg, Denmark, and Canada’s first game is against Sweden on Nov. 6 (The Canadian Press via TSN). Desbiens has been Canada’s top goalie since the 2021 Women’s Worlds (Daily Faceoff). Gascon is one of six NCAA players on the team (The Hockey News); she plays for Minnesota Duluth, where she became the Bulldogs’ career shutout leader this month, as our Oct. 17 edition reported. Before Denmark, Canada meets the United States on Oct. 28 and 30 (The Hockey News).

Sweden, Canada’s first opponent in Herning, named its team on Tuesday. Coach Erika Holst chose Emma Söderberg of SDE HF, Ida Boman of Färjestad BK, and Ebba Svensson Träff of Linköping HC as her three goalies. After Canada, Sweden faces Finland, Denmark, and Japan in the group stage, and it warms up with three games in Södertälje from Oct. 28 to 31 against Czechia, Switzerland, and Finland (Hockeysverige, SVT).

On InGoal: Smile Between Whistles: the mental reset that fuels Desbiens and InGoal Radio Episode 332 with Kayle Osborne.

Goalies of the weekHood, Vernon, and Westman

• WHL: Vancouver’s Burke Hood, 19, stopped 79 of 81 shots in two 5-1 wins and leads the league with a 1.82 goals-against average. The Islanders drafted him in 2025 (Vancouver Giants).
• ECHL: Norfolk’s Matt Vernon went 2-0 with a .971 save percentage on the season’s opening weekend: the 33-save shutout in Savannah from our Oct. 18 edition, then 35 saves in a 3-2 win in Atlanta on Sunday. It’s his third ECHL weekly award (ECHL).
• USHL: Muskegon’s Oscar Westman stopped 57 of 61 shots in two games against Youngstown: 26 of 28 in a shootout loss on Friday, then 31 in a 5-2 win on Saturday (Local Sports Journal).

HistoryMartin Brodeur's first NHL shutout, 33 years ago today

On this day in 1993, 21-year-old rookie Martin Brodeur stopped all 17 shots the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim took, and the Devils won 4-0 at the Meadowlands for the first shutout of his NHL career. Corey Millen scored on a second-period power play, and New Jersey added three in the third. He had two more that season, his Calder Trophy year, and finished his career with 125, the NHL record, every one but the last for New Jersey. The NHL game details here and below come from NHL.com’s This Date in NHL History and its game records.

Also on Oct. 20

• 1974: Billy Smith made 26 saves in a 5-0 win in Washington for his first NHL shutout, the first in Islanders history.
• 1985: Grant Fuhr earned his 100th NHL win, making 41 saves for Edmonton in Los Angeles.
• 2007: Dominik Hasek played his 700th NHL game, a Red Wings win in Phoenix.
• 2012: Toronto Varsity Blues goalie Nicole Kesteris was credited with a goal against Windsor, an own goal she was the last of her team to touch. According to Hockey Blog in Canada, no woman goalie in Canadian university hockey had been credited with one before.
• 2018: Sergei Bobrovsky played his 400th NHL game, for Columbus at home against Chicago.
• 2021: Vsetín goalie Jakub Málek scored a goal in Havířov, sending the puck the length of the ice into the empty net while Havířov had a power play. According to hokej.cz, he was only the second goalie to score in the Chance Liga, Czechia’s second tier, and the first to do it with a shot of his own.
• 2023: Halifax’s Mathis Rousseau was credited with a goal against Rouyn-Noranda, an own goal he was the last Moosehead to touch, and the first goal credited to a Halifax goalie, according to QuantHockey.

On InGoal: InGoal Radio Episode 23 with Martin Brodeur and Dominik Hašek: Always the Goalie, inside the Sabres’ film on the Dominator.

BirthdaysShtalenkov and Ersson

Happy birthday to Olympic gold medallist Mikhail Shtalenkov (61), the Unified Team’s starter at the 1992 Games, of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and Edmonton Oilers, and Ottawa Senators goalie Samuel Ersson (27).

New on InGoalShane Clifford on coaching Fleury, Irbe and Wolf (Ep. 373)

Goalie coach Shane Clifford is the guest on InGoal Radio Episode 373, drawing on more than 20 years of lessons from working with Marc-André Fleury, Arturs Irbe and Dustin Wolf on mobility, reps and how junior goalies develop.

In the episode’s parent segment, why goalie friendships are worth nurturing, and why the words parents use about their child’s goalie partner matter more than they may think. And in the gear segment, TPS is back with the Response 2K Pro goalie stick: an 18K carbon build with a TP31 curve, from C$289.99.

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