Kari Lehtonen returns to Chicago Wolves; Wolves lose 5-4 to Peoria Rivermen

Where was the old Kari Lehtonen? The man defending the Atlanta iron is just not the same, letting in soft shots and "funny" bounces.

Kari Lehtonen defends the Wolves goal in an earlier conditioning assignment. Credit: Jane Rickard

The Wolves dropped a game to the Peoria Rivermen 5-4 at the Carver Arena. Chris Chelios wasn't on the ice.

That seems to be a crucial factor in Wolves losses. When Chelios doesn't play the team is 1-3. When Chelios does play, the team is 22-10-1.

I'd have to describe the blue line in front of Lehtonen as historically light. Both at the Wolves and later in Atlanta, Lehtonen has been the factor that kept his team in the game. He would face forty or fifty shots in a game. That's unacceptable, but Lehtonen survived.

Last night, Lehtonen stopped 32 shots. Facing 37 shots isn't acceptable. It shows weakness in the blue line. Facing 37 or more shots on goal has only happened to the Wolves ten times this season, ten of 44 games. Since Lever has been behind the bench this has only happened six times, six of 38 games.

When the team faces that many shots, its overall record is 3-6-1 while its record under Lever is 2-3-1. In other words, keeping the shot off the net is critical to a win. At least part of the reason the Wolves lost by one goal has to be laid at the feet of the blue line.

Karila, The Epic of Kari Lehtonen refreshed my memory, softened last night by a large glass of good stuff, of what had happened. The first goal Lehtonen let in was the "funny" bounce, a shot from the RED line along the left boards by Bryce Lampman. Two other goals bothered me, the Cracknell goal.

Chris Porter took a shot from the point, Adam Cracknell, standing outside the paint put some wood on it and deflected it in. Granted, this is a tough shot to stop, Porter's cannon shot was already moving and Lehtonen had to judge the deflection.

The other shot that bothered me was the Drazenovic goal. Nicholas Drazenovic took a shot from the slot that deflected in off of Lehtonen's own stick.

Lehtonen is assigned to the Wolves for two weeks. Peter Mannino is expected to start in goal in a game this afternoon against the Grand Rapids Griffins.

Karila has a summary of Lehtonen's injury history.