This shutout was impressive because Scrivens shut out the Sharks, one of the best scoring teams in the league. In the first period, Scrivens saved 20 shots, which some goalies don’t see for an entire game. He then followed with another 22 in the second period for a total of 42, which is more than the average for a full game, but he still had not let a goal in. A perfect 17 save third period capped the evening off and put Scrivens in the record books.
The highest number of saves Scrivens ever made in a game prior to last Wednesday was 45 in a 6-5 loss to the Buffalo Sabres in April 2012 when he was a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs, so performances like this didn’t exactly happen for him very often. He then followed with another 43 straight saves against the Boston Bruins before David Krejci finally put one past him. His shutout streak spanned 126 minutes and 41 seconds.
For Scrivens, this was a fantastic achievement in an otherwise unlucky beginning to his NHL career. Coming up with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Scrivens had moderate success as a backup in the 2011 and 2012 seasons, enough to show that he was able to perform at the NHL level at least as a formidable backup. His time with them was short lived, however, as he was traded in the offseason to the Los Angeles Kings for another young goaltender, Jonathan Bernier, and this wouldn’t be the last time he would be run out of town for a younger, supposedly more talented goaltender.
Scrivens was put in a difficult position in L.A. At his age, he wants to show NHL teams that he will eventually be able to be a starter for an NHL team, but it was going to be extremely hard for him to do that with Johnathan Quick as the number one Kings’ goalie. An opportunity arose for Scrivens when Quick went down earlier in the season, but the spectacular play by rookie call up Martin Jones quickly thwarted it. Jones needed to be sent down with Quick returning from injury, but that didn’t last long since he was quickly called right back up when the Kings traded Scrivens to the Oilers and sent their young goalie Devan Dubnyk to the Nashville Predators.
More experienced goaltenders have overshadowed and replaced Scrivens throught his short career, and he’s been traded for other young goalies that appear to have more potential. He was put into a great situation in Edmonton with the only real threat as the number one goaltender being Ilya Bryzgalov. Now with his two most recent performances, he might have finally showed the NHL that he has what it takes to be a number one goalie.
