Curtis Joseph, Six Minute First Star




Curtis Joseph has had two of the stranger decisions of his career this season. This week he entered a tie game with one minute remaining and proceeded to collect a win with only six minutes of work. He also was amazingly named first star of the game. Eight of his saves were during overtime when the Capitals outshot the Leafs 8-0. He had point-blank stops against both Alex Ovechkin and Mike Green, then he stopped Backstrom, Semin and Ovechkin in the shootout. The crowd at the ACC showered him with chants of “Cujo,Cujo” reminiscent of the long gone days of the Leafs making the playoffs.

His first star selection in six minutes of play must be one of the stranger three star selections since “Rocket” Richard received all three stars of the game scoring all five goals in a shutout of the Leafs.

Cujo’s other rarely seen decision was when Ron Wilson inserted him for Vesa Toskala for the shootout in a game versus Anaheim in October. In that game he was credited with zero minutes played and an overtime loss.

It would seem that Joseph may be better suited as a relief goaltender in this the twilight of his career. In eight relief appearances consisting of 180 minutes he has a 2.67 GAA and a .900 save Pct. In his eight starts he has a 3.73 GAA and an atrocious save Pct. of .852.



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