About the only time Blackhawks goaltender Jocelyn Thibault has thought about playing in the All-Star Game is when he’s asked about it, which has been just about every day for the last week.
“It would be a great honor for me to be there, but it’s not something I focus on,” Thibault said.
The starters for the game, which will be played Feb. 2 in Sunrise, Fla., were named Saturday and were picked in fan balloting.
Colorado’s Patrick Roy was voted to start the game for the Western Conference, which leaves two spots for the league to fill. Dallas’ Marty Turco has been among the league leaders in every category this season and is a lock for one spot.
That leaves one more, with many possible candidates.
Thibault didn’t hurt his chances by recording his league-leading sixth shutout in a 2-0 victory Sunday over Nashville.
“I haven’t really stopped and asked myself if I should be there or who should be there,” Thibault said. “I’m not dumb. I know I’ve had a good enough season to be there.”
Thibault’s 2.02 goals-against average is fourth in the league among starters. His 20 wins is not only every win the Hawks have had this season but is just two behind the league lead, and his .925 save percentage–a statistic Hawks coach Brian Sutter said is more important than goals-against–is fourth among goalies who have played more than 20 games.
Vancouver’s Dan Cloutier, Edmonton’s Tommy Salo and Detroit’s Curtis Joseph are other possible candidates, and each of their teams is higher in the standings than the Hawks.
The rest of the teams will be announced Thursday.
He wants to stay
Rookie goaltender Michael Leighton raised a few eyebrows Friday when he said on a radio program that if he’s not going to play in Chicago, he would rather go back to Norfolk of the American Hockey League.
Leighton said Sunday he didn’t mean he wanted to play every game, but that if he was only going to play once every 20 or so games, he might be better off playing more in Norfolk.
“But I would love to stay here,” he said. “I feel like I’m getting better in practice, getting used to the shooters, and I feel like I’m getting better just practicing with these guys.”
Thibault has played 38 of the Hawks’ first 43 games. One reason for the heavy workload is because he’s having the best season of his career. Another is the fact that Sutter lost confidence early in backup Steve Passmore, who was sent to Norfolk.
Chances are Sutter has a little more confidence in Leighton, who had a strong preseason and became the first Hawks goaltender to notch a shutout in his NHL debut Wednesday against Phoenix.
With four more games in six days this week, Sutter said Leighton will be in the lineup–perhaps as early as Monday in Detroit.
Dump-ins
Defenseman Jon Klemm sat out his 12th straight game while recovering from a hairline fracture in his left hand. Sutter said Klemm may be ready Monday. … Defenseman Phil Housley was scratched Sunday with the flu. Igor Korolev was a healthy scratch.
