As the NHL season rages on, teams from each conference continue to make their push toward the playoffs as each game becomes more important.
While some players will be the reason for their team’s success, others will be the reason they spend April on the couch. These athletes are favorably called bobbleheads.
Here are this week’s bobbleheads who didn’t help their teams’ case for any playoff optimism.
San Jose Sharks — Alexandar Georgiev
Georgiev gave up the most goals this week, letting in an abysmal seven goals to his former team in his return to Colorado to face the Avalanche.
The Sharks entered the game with an NHL-worst record of 17-37-9, sitting at the bottom of the Pacific Division and the Western Conference.
Georgiev now has the second-lowest save percentage among all NHL goalies at 0.876, while also allowing the sixth-most goals of all goalies with an eye-watering 122.
Edmonton Oilers — Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard
As Edmonton looked to keep pace with the Las Vegas Golden Knights for first place in the Pacific Division, it hit a road bump thanks to its tandem of goalies, allowing six goals to a struggling Anaheim Ducks team.
Edmonton opened the scoring, taking an early 1-0 lead over the Ducks — a lead it never saw again, as Anaheim scored four unanswered goals behind Calvin Pickard, digging the Oilers into a 4-1 hole by the end of the first period.
Pickard was then pulled in favor of Stuart Skinner in hopes of sparking the Oilers. Instead, Anaheim got another past Skinner to take a 5-1 lead heading into the third period.
Skinner allowed one more goal to seal Edmonton's fate, widening the gap between it and Las Vegas as playoff seeding becomes more apparent with each passing game.
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Los Angeles Kings — Darcy Kuemper
The Kings have dropped five straight games with Kuemper starting three of them, allowing a staggering 12 goals during his time in net. Six of those came against the Dallas Stars, who sent 31 shots Kuemper’s way.
Compare that to Stars goalie Jake Oettinger, who faced the same number of shots but allowed only two goals.
That following Monday, Kuemper faced only 18 shots and allowed four of them into the net. This came against a floundering Chicago Blackhawks squad that had the second-worst record in the NHL.
Kuemper improved his play on March 5 against the St. Louis Blues, allowing only two goals on 30 shots. It wasn’t enough, though, as the Kings lost in an overtime shootout, capping the four-game skid.
Columbus Blue Jackets — Elvis Merzļikins
Columbus dropped two games during its trip to Florida, suffering a 6-2 drubbing at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning and a 3-0 defeat at the hands of the defending champion Florida Panthers.
Merzļikins was under siege against the Lightning, facing 39 shots and allowing five goals, while a Tampa empty-net goal sealed the Blue Jackets’ fate.
Against the Panthers, he improved his performance, allowing only two goals on 35 shots. However, Columbus’ offense sputtered, managing only 16 shots, making a shutout inevitable.
Simon Reseigh is a freelance reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on X @simon_reseigh
