Silver Nuggets: #Lehnsanity
Robin Lehner is the talk of the town for his memorable goalie fight on the weekend--and its role in precipitating the Binghamton Senators' meltdown in the aftermath.
You've all undoubtedly seen it already but, if not, here's the already-classic video of Robin Lehner taking on and taking down Riku Helenius about mid-way through the Binghamton Senators' 6-5 overtime loss to the Syracuse Crunch on Saturday:
The stuff of legend. And it adds to the legend of Lehner, who's quickly gaining a following around the league for his fights and outbursts--those which result from the same perceived immaturity that has Ottawa Senators managers shaking their heads and hoping for a little bit more self-control on Lehner's part.
But let's take a step back, here, and look at the context: The refs had completely lost control of the game, and the Crunch were mercilessly running Lehner at every opportunity. Bingo's defencemen were failing to prevent that. The B-Sens were up 5-0 in the game, sitting comfortably. It was a relatively meaningless regular season game, and Lehner had AHL veteran Nathan Lawson ready to back him up in the event of an expulsion from the game. What better time, really, for Lehner to let loose and embrace his lunacy?
It's not Lehner's responsibility to ensure his backup goaltender isn't a total sieve, or to lock down the 5-0 lead. He walks away from the incident with a check-mark on his resume, in my books, while his teammates should be the ones wondering what the heck they did to lose the game. It certainly wasn't Lehner who lost it for them.
Robin Lehner links:
- Travis Yost on his interesting year. (HockeyBuzz)
- Ken Warren on Lehner's ever-presence in the news. (Ottawa Citizen)
- Justin Bourne on the fight. (Backhand Shelf)
- Sean Leahy on the fight. (Puck Daddy)
Other Ottawa Senators and NHL links:
- Binghamton managed to eke out a 2-1 overtime win on Sunday night at the GIANT Center (yes, really). Hugh Jessiman scored the winner. (Press & Sun Bulletin)
- Also in that PSB recap, the following B-Sens are injured right now: Eric Gryba, Jared Cowen, Mark Stone, Shane Prince, and Stephane Da Costa.
- Daniel Alfredsson recently showed up at a West Carleton minor hockey practice to hang out. (National Post)
- If Bobby Butler is looking for redemption, he hasn't started as well as he'd have liked: Just 1A in 3GP so far. (Sports Telegram)