Although the rest of the roster has been moved around, the Stars have held on tight to their Dynamic Duo in goaltending. Last season, Ben Bishop and Anton Khudobin were a backbone for the Dallas Stars throughout the entire season, in both good times and bad.
Both goaltenders had achieved career highs throughout last season. With these two standing tall in front of the Stars’ net, the team is already in a good place as we head into the final full month of the off-season.
This season, Ben Bishop led the duo as the Stars’ starter, playing in 46 regular-season games with a 27-15-2 record. Bishop collected a regular-season save percentage of .934, after facing 1,323 shots while stopping 1,236 of them. He finished up the season leading the league in SV%. Bishop had a career-high in shutouts, with a whopping 7.
Bishop continued to shine deep into the playoffs. He played in all 13 games for the Stars and had a .933 save percentage with a goals-against-average of 2.22. Bish also finished the season as a Vezina finalist and he finished in 2nd for voting.
As for Anton Khudobin, who looks like he’s been having a fun summer according to his Instagram stories, he had one of his best career seasons this year. Khudobin played in 41 games (career-high) with 37 starts (career-high) and a record of 16-17-5. Khudobin had a SV% of .923 after facing 1,232 shots and only allowing 95 goals. Dobby played in the final 11 minutes of one playoff game this season but stopped all 5 shots he faced.
The Stars have made massive changes among the offense and defense but keeping these two in net is a smart move by Jim Nill. He knows the talent and growth potential in each player and Nill, along with the Stars’ coaching staff, trusts them to be reliable as netminders again this year.
This year will be crucial for the Stars. They have carefully picked a star-studded roster and are heating up for another redemption shot at the Stanley Cup. The team is already sitting pretty with Ben Bishop and Anton Khudobin in the net.
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