Flyers Set NHL Record Using Eighth Goaltender This Season
NEWARK, N.J. — The Philadelphia Flyers set an NHL record when Cam Talbot became the eighth goaltender to play this season.
Talbot, who was acquired from Edmonton in mid-February for fellow goaltender Anthony Stolarz, became No. 8 on Friday night when he made 30 saves in a 6-3 win over the New Jersey Devils.
“He was solid, it’s been a few days since his last game but he looked good in there for us and gave us a chance to win so that’s all you could ask for from your goalie,” said Flyers forward James van Riemsdyk, who scored twice.
Talbot was sharp from the start. He stopped Blake Coleman on a short-handed breakaway early in the five-minute power play for Philadelphia.
“That’s a huge save,” Talbot said. “You never want to allow a short-handed goal, so for me that was a big confidence booster since I hadn’t played for a while so that was a big one early that I needed and the team needed.”
Talbot gave up two second-period goals by giving up big rebounds.
“The first five minutes I had to get my legs under me but after that I just kind of settled in and made some big saves and that settled me in,” he said. “Then you just kind of try to control my game from there.”
Brian Elliott, Carter Hart, Michal Neuvirth, Calvin Pickard, Alex Lyon, Mike McKenna and Stolarz have also played goal for Philadelphia in a season during which the men between the pipes have missed 107 games because of injury.
Three other teams had shared the record with the Flyers: the 1989-90 Quebec Nordiques, 2002-03 St. Louis Blues and 2007-08 Los Angeles Kings.
Flyers interim head coach Scott Gordon was one of the Nordiques’ seven goaltenders.