Oilers backup goaltender's stock gets bump after blanking Blackhawks​

The local twitterverse was lit Thursday night after the Oilers backup Mikko Koskinen all but single-handedly shutdown the Chicago Blackhawks.

The big Finn looked like a much taller version of the Flames Finnish standout goalie Mikka Kiprusoff en route to his second win and first NHL shutout.

Koskinen turned away Hawks captain Jonathan Toews on a breakaway, blanked sniper Patrick Kane with a sneaky blocker save and survived three power plays, all while providing a steady presence in net for the Oilers.

‘I feel good’

“I feel good,” Koskinen said. “We’ve been doing a lot of work in practice. I think we’re on the right way and we just have to keep doing what we are and things are going to get better.”

For fans, the performance all but erased much of the preseason panic which set in after Koskinen let in 8 goals on 40 shots through two games.

His play then was best summed up in headlines with adjectives like “abysmal” and “up-and-down play.”  

“It was entirely negative,” recalls Cam Lewis, head writer at Oilers Nation, a local blog fan website.

“He came over in preseason and looked really bad and everyone thought, ‘This is Jonas Gustafsson 2.0.’ Here’s someone like big like potato sack that’s just going stand in net and is just going to get lit up.

“Through two games, it looks like we’re all wrong.”

Now the 30-year-old looked like he is worth every penny of the $2.5 million contract that Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli signed him to in the summer.

The 6′ 7″ goalie has won both of his NHL starts within the last week convincingly.  

Koskinen’s role in a 5-3 win over the Nashville Predators on Saturday helped break a 13-game losing streak against the Western Conference juggernaut.

The two starts have earned his teammates confidence. Not bad for a goalie who has only ever played four NHL games and those almost 10 years ago. 

‘He was outstanding’

“I think there was a point in time during the preseason where he was just getting acclimatized to playing in North America, so there was a learning curve but I’m guessing the coaches took some time to work with him, and he’s improved his game since,” Lewis said.  

Koskinen is now looking like the backup the Oilers have been trying to unearth for years.

The team has seen a busload of backups go through the revolving door: Ben Scrivens, Laurent Brossoit, Anders Nilsson, Jonas Gustavsson and Al Montoya.

“A lot of times you’ll see a new goalie really crush it,” said Lewis, referring to Scrivens in 2014, when the backup shut the door on the San Jose Sharks in 59-save performance which saw him flopping and stopping shots from everywhere in a 3-0 win which left fans giddy.  

“What I’ve liked about Koskinen is that he’s this huge body that takes up so much of the net. He looked poised and strong, I think there’s definite reason to be optimistic.”

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