Connor Ingram has been phenomenal to start the season for the Coyotes, playing at the level of a true starting goaltender.
Goaltender Connor Ingram put the NHL world on notice Saturday night, delivering a shutout against the Vegas Golden Knights, carrying the Arizona Coyotes to a 2-0 victory.
Despite not having much NHL experience leading up to this season, Ingram has been one of the bigger surprises for the Coyotes to start the year.
The 26-year-old goaltender currently holds a 7-3 record, 2.64 GAA and a .920 SV% as he is performing at a starting goaltending level.
The Coyotes performance on Saturday night was far from perfect. You can even say the Golden Knights were the better team but it was Ingram who saved Arizona in what looked like it would be their fourth consecutive loss.
That’s exactly what the Coyotes need. Their defense is shaky to say the least and offensively they are very sporadic, so strong goaltending play will continue to be critical moving forward.
Ingram and Karel Vejmelka have been splitting time thus far, but it’s been clear that Ingram has just been the better goalie.
While Vejmelka may have more experience and has been the starting goaltender throughout the past two seasons, if Ingram keeps this up it will be difficult for coach André Tourigny to deny him the majority of the worldload.
Some goalies take longer to develop than others. It’s been a long road for Ingram who was drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2016 and started less than 10 games before making his way to the Valley last season.
However, the more time that passes the better Ingram looks. Last night, Ingram seemed comfortable and was cool, calm and collective, making every save look so easy.
This sort of confidence shown by Ingram will spread rapidly to the rest of the Coyotes players which will only increase performance level.
It will be interesting to see what happens regarding the Coyotes goaltending strategy, but if Tourigny decides to give Ingram the starting tag, he is certainly deserving of that role.