NOTES : Hot Goalie LeBlanc Gets His Third Start

Ray LeBlanc, who stopped 46 shots in the U.S. hockey team’s 2-0 victory over Germany Tuesday, will start again tonight, for the third game, when the United States faces Finland. A victory by the United States would clinch a berth in the medal round as one of four teams that will advance from Group A.

“I’m going to stay with the hot guy,” Coach Dave Peterson said of LeBlanc, the 27-year-old minor leaguer who has helped the United States get off to its best Olympic start since 1960.

Finland, the United States and Sweden are tied for the group lead with 2-0 records. However, Finland leads on the basis of a 14-2 goal differential, with Sweden (14-5) second and the United States (8-3) third. Finland and the United States have had one common opponent, Germany. The United States managed a 2-0 victory, and Finland beat Germany, 5-0. Finland’s other victory was a 9-1 romp over Poland.

Finland’s strengths, Peterson said, are puck control and movement.

It’s also a well-prepared team.

“I have the feeling that now the tournament is starting,” said the Finns’ right wing, Hannu Jarvenpaa, who spent three seasons with the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets. “These two games we have played so far, obviously we have had the best team.”

Jarvenpaa is one of 14 players on Finland’s team who have played in the NHL or were drafted by NHL teams. Among them are former King Mikko Makela and right wing Timo Peltomaa, who was the Kings’ ninth-round draft pick in 1988.

The closest Ray LeBlanc has been to the NHL after more than seven minor league seasons was the Chicago Blackhawks’ bench, where he sat for one game as the backup goaltender. But his outstanding performances in goal for the U.S. Olympic team apparently have earned him that long-awaited NHL chance.

Bob Pulford, senior vice president of the Blackhawks, said Wednesday his club “would take a peek” at LeBlanc, who was signed as a free agent in September, 1989. That promotion also will allow other teams to see LeBlanc before the NHL’s expansion draft, which will stock the Ottawa Senators and Tampa Bay Lightning next season.

The last U.S. goalie to record an Olympic shutout before LeBlanc was Patrick Rupp in 1964. USA Hockey President Walter Bush, who was general manager of the 1964 team, had said Tuesday that Thomas Yurkovich was the goalie of record in the team’s 8-0 victory over Germany at Innsbruck.