For the first time in John Gibson's career, he took the ice for a team that was not the Anaheim Ducks. He would join the Red Wings this offseason after Detroit traded for him in hopes that he could help add to the goalie position.
While John Gibson's goalie setup was elite, the performance was not against the Montreal Canadiens, as he allowed five goals on only 13 shots and was pulled towards the end of the second period. The goal by Mike Matheson at the end of the first period should have been an indicator that it was going to be a long night, as it was a shot that should have been easy to stop, but Gibson was slow to react, and he was beaten over his shoulder.
It was an ugly performance all around, and the stat that highlights this the most is that he had an expected goals against of 1.27 according to Natural Stat Trick.
Is it already time to make a switch at goalie for the Detroit Red Wings?
Entering this season, I thought John Gibson had a great opportunity ahead of him to silence some of the critics. He had been on a bad Anaheim Ducks team the past few seasons, but his performance in net didn't really suffer, and he kept them in games.
While it is only one game, the performance was so bad that the Detroit Red Wings need to seriously consider making a switch in net to Cam Talbot. He joined the Red Wings as a free agent last summer and in his first season in Detroit had a goals against average of 2.93 and a save percentage of .900.
The challenge for Gibson and the Red Wings is that it doesn't get any easier over the next five games, with two against the Toronto Maple Leafs, followed by the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Edmonton Oilers.
If there is a silver lining, it is that four of those five are at home, and that could help. However, there is no question that Gibson needs to bounce back from this performance or his time as the starting goalie for the Red Wings could be short-lived.