Two Goalies Better Than One

Most NHL teams have a No. 1 goaltender. The Ottawa Senators have two--Ron Tugnutt and Damian Rhodes.

Tugnutt and Rhodes have shared the load and helped the Senators establish themselves as one of the top teams in hockey. They had the best record in the Eastern Conference going into the weekend and had already clinched a playoff berth.

“Damian and I both want to play pretty much every night, but I think we understand that the situation here is kind of unique where it seems to be working,” Tugnutt says. “You don’t want to rock the boat.

“If things are going well for both of us, that’s OK. We have two goalies that are fresh every game. Most importantly, neither of us has a big ego, and when you’re not playing you’re a big supporter of the team.”

Tugnutt has a 21-9-5 record, establishing a career high for victories, and his goals-against average of 1.75 led the league. The last goaltender to post a goals-against average under 1.80 was Tony Esposito of Chicago in 1971-72.

Rhodes, meanwhile, had a 21-12-4 record and 2.42 goals-against average.

Will the two-goalie system continue in the playoffs?

“Time will tell,” Tugnutt says. “Both of us want to be in there, and it’s like we’re starting to feel maybe it’s a (nine-game) showdown to see who’s going to get the chance first.”

FRUSTRATED: Coach Jacques Demers, going with a youth movement at Tampa Bay, admits it’s frustrating at times.

“The kids (are) learning their trade the hard way. I hope one thing they learn ... that losing affects to the point where when they get mature enough, they never want to go through that again.”

UNITED NATIONS LEAGUE? Need any proof that the NHL has become a truly international league? Just look at the top scorers in the league these days.

Going into the weekend there were seven countries represented by the league’s top 10 scorers: Pittsburgh’s Jaromir Jagr (Czech Republic); Anaheim’s Teemu Selanne (Finland); Philadelphia’s Eric Lindros (Canada); Anaheim’s Paul Kariya (Canada); Colorado’s Peter Forsberg (Sweden); Colorado’s Joe Sakic (Canada); Philadelphia’s John LeClair (United States); Ottawa’s Alexei Yashin (Russia); Colorado’s Theo Fleury (Canada); and St. Louis’ Pavol Demitra (Slovakia).

In addition, four different countries were represented among the top four goal scorers and three among the top three assist leaders.

SWAP-FEST: As expected, the final day of the trading deadline on March 23 produced an unusually large number of deals -- in this case, a record.

There were 21 trades, two more than the previous record of 19 set in 1995 and 1998. A total of 30 players were traded this time, sixth highest in history.

Since the 1979-80 season, there have been 209 trades involving 380 players on deadline day.

TOTALLY PLEASED: New York Rangers coach John Muckler was especially happy for Wayne Gretzky when he scored his milestone 1,072nd goal on Monday night.

Muckler goes back to Gretzky’s days with the Edmonton Oilers when he was an assistant coach.

“I don’t know if it’s his biggest record, but I know it meant a lot to him,” Muckler said. “I know when we were out West (on a recent road trip), he was disappointed he couldn’t do it in Edmonton and he couldn’t do it in Calgary. I guess he was saving it for the New York fans.”

Gretzky’s goal, the tiebreaker in a 3-1 victory over the New York Islanders, moved him past Gordie Howe for first place on the all-time professional goal list. The total includes Gretzky’s goals in the NHL and WHA, regular season and playoffs.