But the 23-year-old from Pittsburgh might be playing as well as any goalie in the league right now, and it’s a safe bet he’ll be back in net for a seventh straight game when the Ducks host the Arizona Coyotes on Friday night.
He’s coming off a 2-0 shutout against the visiting Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night, a performance that actually took a back seat to the clinic he delivered Sunday, when he tied a franchise record by stopping 51 shots in a 4-3 shootout victory against the Philadelphia Flyers.
The turning point came when Gibson was lifted after allowing his third goal early in the second period against the Flyers. Ducks coach Randy Carlyle noticed Gibson shaking his head in displeasure as he skated off the ice, replaced by backup Jonathan Bernier.
Carlyle wouldn’t say, but at that moment he may have decided that he made a big mistake, telling Gibson as he passed him by that he’d be re-entering the game at the next break in action. Sure enough, Gibson returned to the game four minutes later and stopped all 31 shots he faced from then on, as well as four of five in the shootout.
“It’s the situation you want to be in,” Gibson said after the win against Detroit. “You want to be the guy that leads the team and helps them win, helps them get through when times are tough. That’s what you got to do.”
The Flyers and Red Wings are each struggling in different ways, but if Gibson is in goal Friday night, he’ll face an Arizona team that has one of the worst records in the NHL.
Heading into Thursday night, the Coyotes had the fewest wins in the league (11) and the second fewest points (27) behind the Colorado Avalanche (25). They’ve lost eight straight games, all in regulation, and haven’t won in regulation since beating Detroit 4-1 on Dec. 13.
Arizona goalie Mike Smith said it will take a number of improvements for the Coyotes to pull out of their slump.
“It’s going to take hard work, it’s going to take doing the little things right on a consistent basis, it’s going to take discipline, it’s going to take looking at yourself in the mirror and figuring a way to get out of this,” Smith said after a 3-0 loss Wednesday at the Vancouver Canucks, the third time Arizona’s been shut out in the last month.
Arizona could catch a break against the Ducks, however. Ryan Getzlaf, second on the team with 30 points, didn’t practice Thursday after missing Wednesday’s game with a lower body injury. Getzlaf was initially injured early in the third period against the Flyers.
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