ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - A St. Louis Blues goalie leads the NHL in goals allowed average and save percentage. And it's not the guy who won the Blues their first Stanley Cup.
Ville Husso has proven himself worthy in almost all of his starts for the Blues. His stellar performances have stirred some controversy amongst fans, who speculate whether he should take the role of starting goalie over Jordan Binnington.
Through 24 games in the 2021-22 season, Jordan Binnington is 11-10-3 with a 3.35 goals against average (GAA) and .898 save percentage (SV%). Husso, having only played 17 games, has a record of 11-3-1 with a 1.85 GAA and .939 SV%.
KMOX's Kevin Wheeler made the case for Husso in Wednesday night's edition of Sports Open Line:
"The fight's over. Ville Husso is your best goalie. I'm not trying to say that this is somehow a controversial opinion," Wheeler explains. "I think this is just common sense. I think every Blues fan listening agrees." You can hear his full arguments in the audio at the top of this page.
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A backup goalie outshining his starter may sound familiar to Blues fans. It's exactly what happened in the 2018-19 season when Jordan Binnington outperformed Jake Allen and helped guide the dead-last Blues to a Stanley Cup title.
"Even though the guy you're counting on to be your number one goalie isn't playing that way, your backup is playing like a number one goalie," Wheeler says. "All you need going into the postseason in any given year is a goalie that's playing well. It doesn't matter what his name is. Jordan Binnington's name wasn't established when he led them to a Stanley Cup championship."
Husso's most recent start was in Ottawa on Tuesday night, where he stopped 18 of the Senators' 20 shots. St. Louis would go on to win the game 5-2. The Blues continue their road trip and will face the cellar-dweller Canadiens in Montreal Thursday night at 6:00pm CT.