Ben Scrivens knows a thing or two about setting records. The 31-year-old goaltender set an expansion era record when he notched 59 saves in the Oilers 1-0 shutout win over the San Jose Sharks back on January 29th, 2014.
Scrivens broke Mike Smith’s 54-shot shutout performance for the then Phoenix Coyotes back on April 3, 2012 against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Now, the former Toronto Maple Leafs, Los Angeles King, Edmonton Oiler and Montreal Canadiens is playing in the KHL for Salavat Yulayev UFA and is a candidate to be the starting goaltender for Team Canada at the upcoming Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, if KHL players are in fact allowed to partake.
In Salavat’s Sunday match against Lokomotiv, defenceman Alexander Yelesin of Lokomotiv took the puck off the opening draw of the game and flicked a bouncing puck from just inside the red line on goal, and it completely eluded Scrivens and went in.
It also set a KHL record as the fastest goal ever scored to start a game.
All of five seconds.
That puck took on a life of its own, and it's really just a bad bounce. You can see Scrivens’ train of thought as he slide over to block the puck on the hop, but it completely sinks down towards his right like a splitter in baseball.
Scrivens rebounded strong, stopping 33 of the next 34 shots he faced, and played a big role in Salavat Yulaev’s 3-2 win over Lokomotiv.
Scirvens is enjoying a nice start to the 2017-18 campaign, posting a 19-9-2 record with a 2.17 goals against average and a .921 save percentage in 31 games played. It's his second season over in Russia, but first with Salavat Yulayev.
(h/t KHL)
