Empathetic Roy Had Front Row Seat to Markstrom Meltdown

The NHL’s advanced metrics suggest that Tuesday night will go down as one of the darkest statistical performances ever recorded by a goaltender. Jacob Markstrom’s outing for the New Jersey Devils against the New York Islanders is currently tracking as the worst single-game performance in NHL history by goals saved above expected. And the entire time that game was unfolding, a goaltender who is all too familiar with being left in for nine goals against watched on.

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Markstrom wasn’t pulled from the crease despite watching almost everything that could go wrong, go wrong. Rubbing salt in the wounds, Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin delivered one of the best performances of the season, posting a plus-4.49 goals saved above expected. The Devils fired 45 shots but were shut out completely.

Markstrom Was Embarrassed, and Who Knows What Comes Next

Markstrom allowed nine goals on 24 shots, finishing with a .625 save percentage. The question of whether he should have been pulled surfaced early — and only grew louder as the goals piled up. Then, it came about pulling him too late and whether he’d be humiliated by being pulled when down by seven or eight.

After the game, Markstrom owned his performance, and he wore the shame of a terrible outing like a pro.

“We want to apologize to the Devils fans,” Markstrom said. “I’ve got to be better. We put up 40-plus shots and they put up 20 and scored nine. I’m embarrassed of myself. Not good enough.”

That Patrick Roy was the coach on the other bench while things unfolded is the ultimate irony. Watching a goalie left in to surrender nine goals with Roy — a coach who once famously endured an 11-1 loss before being pulled and then demanded a trade out of Montreal— had an eerie, full-circle feel to it.

For Markstrom and the Devils, it was a night to forget. The hope is that the same fate doesn’t await Markstrom as it did Roy — that something like this would sour the relationship between the two sides that they can’t continue working together.

Next: The Corey Perry Void: Did the Oilers Blink First?