Life of Tampa Bay Lightning back Peter Budaj has meant a lot of sitting without playing

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
December 7, 2017

TAMPA – Hours upon hours, Peter Budaj practices.

The 35-year-old goaltender faces puck after puck – in practice.

When it comes to game time, he generally finds himself down at the end of the bench, baseball cap on top of his head and cheers on his teammates, supporting his fellow netminder, Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Rarely has Budaj led the team down the tunnel toward the ice as the starter.

Thursday against Colorado was the fifth start of the season for Budaj. It was the 28th game of the season for the Lightning, making his performance all that much more impressive in picking up his second victory.

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Heading in to Thursday’s game, Budaj served as the lead cheerleader for 1,383 minutes, 27 seconds this season. Tampa Bay has played a total of 1,622 minutes, 25 seconds of ice time.

One-third of the way through the season, Budaj saw 15 percent of the action and three of his four starts had come in a back-to-back situations.

His first start came 11 days and seven games after Tampa Bay started the season on Oct. 17 in New Jersey. His next game came 11 days after on Oct. 28 against Anaheim while his third start came – you guessed it – 11 days later on Nov. 8 in Los Angeles. It was 16 days between his third and fourth start on Nov. 25 in Pittsburgh.

It had been two weeks between starts heading in to Thursday.

It’s not an easy task to place on any goaltender to sit for long stretches of time and then throw them in net once every two week expecting them to be on top of their game.

”It’s a tough job,’’ Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “You always have to stay ready, even though you know whether it’s four or five in a row you’re not going to play. Regardless of the practice and how things are going, it’s not game-like. I don’t envy the position, but there’s a reason he’s been really good at it for so many years, and he was good tonight.’’

Budaj was good on Thursday, but as has been the case, the first period has not been his best. Including the two allowed to Colorado, Budaj has allowed eight of his 17 goals allowed in the first period.

Some of that can be attributed to lack of playing time as no matter how much or how hard a goaltender practices, replicating game-like situations is nothing like being in a game. The feel for the play coming at you, getting the timing down with players whizzing around the net in all directions just is not the same.

”You just have to practice as hard as you can and try to prepare yourself,’’ Budaj said. “Obviously, the practice is never going to be the same as the game, but we do everything we can in practice to be ready to play.’’

It’s certainly a role Budaj is familiar with during his career. He spent three years in Montreal as the backup to Carey Price seeing little playing time. In 2009-10, he played just 15 games behind Craig Anderson in Colorado.

It’s not an enviable role.

”The older you get, your mental maturity grows and he’s trained himself for this role at this point in his career,’’ Cooper said. “But regardless of all that, if you don’t have any work ethic you are not going to be able to do it and he has a strong work ethic.’’

After getting scored on in the opening two minutes by Gabriel Landeskog who banked it off Budaj’s skate as he came across the crease and later on a 2-on-1 chance by Erik Johnson, who beat Budaj in through the five-hole on a goal even Budaj said he’d like back, Budaj was strong the rest of the game.

Twice Budaj stopped T.J. Compher on breakaway chances, including a shorthanded breakaway chance. That allowed the offense the chance to get the job done.

Steven Stamkos answered the first Colorado goal 25 seconds later with his 12th of the season while Chris Kunitz deflected a Dan Girardi shot/pass for his second goal in as many games.

With the game tied heading to the second period, Vladislav Namestnikov scored his 12th of the season off a rebound after Stamkos found Tyler Johnson alone at the top of the crease for a lead the Lightning would not relinquish. Alex Killorn notched a power play goal in the third – his first goal since Nov. 8 in Los Angeles while Brayden Point scored a shorthanded empty-net goal with 3:19 left to put the game out of reach with his 11th of the season.

That gave Budaj his second victory of the season as he finished with 28 saves. In his past three starts, he’s allowed two or fewer goals twice, and honestly the game in Pittsburgh, when the Penguins scored three times on a two-man advantage, is a bit misleading of his play.

”A lot of people don’t understand the nature of the business when it’s tough to be in that position as a backup goaltender when you have an elite on in front of you in Vasy who has played a lot,’’ said Stamkos, who regained the league scoring lead from Nikita Kucherov with his sixth game this season recording three or more points. “Boods, he gets thrown in there where it’s not a back-to-back, it’s a regular routine, guys are fresh and playing a little better than we had in front of him. But he was outstanding tonight, but it’s not real surprise because he works extremely hard in practice to be ready for when he gets that chance.’’

It’s still a role that’s difficult to master, even with experience.

”When you have to go maybe three weeks before game action, it’s one of those things where it’s your mindset,’’ Kunitz said. “He’s always positive, always behind you, always giving you spirit so when he jumps in there you want to make sure you are trying your hardest for him because it’s tough, it’s always hard to be reacclimated to the game speed.’’

Budaj does everything he can to stay game ready, even as he mostly sees games from the bench instead of playing in them.

”You just have to practice as hard as you can,’’ Budaj said. “Obviously the practice is never going to be the same as the game, the timing is going to be different. When you do get to play that first period is important, you try to keep the score as close as possible until you get in the rhythm a little bit especially after you don’t play for a couple of weeks. So that’s the way it is, it’s a job and we do everything we can in practice with (goalie coach Frantz Jean) to prepare myself for whenever I get a chance to play, to be ready.’’

But practices are nothing like the game.

”In games, things happen so fast, it’s not as controlled as a practice,’’ Budaj said. “So you just have to try to adjust throughout the game, calm yourself down and when the team scores five goals in front of you and we’ve played real well of late, it makes my job easier and gives me confidence, too, so that’s great.’’

Note: Assistant equipment manager Rob Kennedy was honored during the game for working his 1,500th professional game. His son Quinn served as the “Thunder Kid’’ during the pregame intros while wearing a Lightning jersey with 1500 on the back.

Stick taps to our assistant equipment manager Rob Kennedy, working his 1,500th professional game tonight.

Thank you for all you do for us! ⚡️ #COLvsTBL pic.twitter.com/JRao2oSCo5

— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) December 8, 2017

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Postgame notes: Tampa Bay recorded a power play goal for the eighth consecutive game and 13th time in the past 14 games. … The Lightning have scored five or more goals in three consecutive games for the first time since Jan. 25-Feb. 1, 2013. … Every forward for Tampa Bay registered at least one shot on goal. … Tyler Johnson has two goals and five points in the past three games since being moved to top line right wing. … D Victor Hedman logged 29:47 of ice time. … The Lightning registered their fifth shorthanded goal of the season surpassing last year’s season total. … Tampa Bay is the first team in the league to reach 20 victories. … The team meet again on Dec. 16 in Denver.

My three stars:
1.Lightning C Steven Stamkos – Goal, 2 assists, 67 percent on faceoffs

2.Lightning LW Vladislav Namestnikov – Game winning goal, 2 assists

3. Lightning G Peter Budaj Stopped 28 shots, including two breakaways

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