Dallas Stars fans might cringe when people bring up the injury history of their workhorse goalie Kari Lehtonen, but the fact of the matter is that the former Atlanta Thrashers netminder’s history is riddled with lengthy stints on the shelf. Honestly, whenever the Stars decided to give him a bunch of starts in a row (like nine games to begin the season, for instance), I couldn’t help but wonder if the team was playing with fire.
Now, it’s not time to panic yet, but Lehtonen is being held out of tonight’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks because of “tightness in his lower body” according to Mark Stepneski.
Who knows what exactly “tightness in his lower body” means, although if I had to make a wild guess I would say that sounds a bit like a groin injury. He’s had a wide range of injuries, including one groin injury that kept him out of 16 games in 2007-08.
Stepneski reports that the team called up Richard Bachman from the Texas Stars (their AHL affiliate) to back up Andrew Raycroft, who will start against the Blackhawks. Raycroft has been excellent in relief of Lehtonen so far this season, sporting a 3-1 record with a 95.1 save percentage and 1.65 GAA.
