Zane McIntyre’s Backup career for Boston didn’t exactly go as planned when he took the ice in late October.
Coming on the heels of losing Rask and Khudobin to injury, McIntyre started precisely one game against the then-best in the league Rangers and got smoked. His next start put him against the hated Habs, where he was good...right up until he wasn’t. A Paul Byron chance he couldn’t get the rebound on. And that was that.
It was kind of rough for him, given the clear promise he showed in these games. Khudobin returning and the rough situation in goal meant he had to return to the AHL by October 25th, where he took charge of the flagging Providence netminding job and he showed marked improvement. In fact, because of the prohibitive costs and time spent in trying to get one person to Newfoundland, he opted for a game or two as an Atlanta Gladiator in the ECHL, playing two games and putting up a fairly impressive .934!
After that? An absolutely lights out december. Nine starts, .947 SV%, a goal and less-than-half GAA. And not a single game lost. McIntyre has been the hottest hand around in Boston’s system that isn’t playing in Boston.
Meanwhile, the backup spot in Boston proper has not exactly improved since his absence traversing the minor leagues. Khudobin’s struggles were well categorized and were part of some lackadaisical efforts on the part of Boston. And finally, Anton got waiver’d. The spot, as far as we know right now, is empty until further notice.
It is the opportunity a young, promising goaltender like McIntyre can only dream of, and he should absolutely get the chance to show he’s not just a fill in from an unfortunate spot of bad luck from Anton Khudobin. He has shown the capacity to be the player to finally give Tuukka Rask the rest he so richly deserves.
All we need now is the confirmation, so he can show the fans what he’s really got.