The Pittsburgh Penguins’ organizational history has a plethora of great players, and we’ve decided to go through the best Penguins’ players to wear each jersey number. Today, we continue the list by naming the best #40 in Penguins’ history.
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Eleven players have worn #40, and most of them have been goaltenders. Although Frank Pietrangelo made “The Save,” his career as a whole in Pittsburgh was nothing spectacular.
But there was a goaltender who wasn’t in Pittsburgh for a long time, but he made the most of that time. His name? Patrick Lalime.
Lalime, selected by Pittsburgh in the sixth round of the 1993 NHL Draft, played just one season – his rookie season – for the Penguins in 1996-97 at the age of 22. But that rookie season was no slouch, and it landed him in the conversation for the Vezina Trophy.
He ended up setting a record for the longest unbeaten streak to begin an NHL career. In his first 16 NHL games, he went 14-0-2 (two ties), including a 1.69 goals-against average (GAA) and a .947 save percentage (SV%).
Over the course of that entire season, Lalime went 21-12-2 with a 2.95 GAA and a .913 SV%, and that would be his only season as a Penguin.
Because of a contract dispute, Lalime sat out the next two NHL seasons. The next time he geared up was for the Ottawa Senators in 1999-2000, and he remained there until the NHL Lockout in 2004-05.
Following the lockout, he played a season for the St. Louis Blues and two for the Chicago Blackhawks before finishing out the final three years of his career in Buffalo.
Lalime retired from the NHL after the 2010-11 season with 200 wins, 35 shutouts, a 2.58 GAA, and a .905 SV% in 444 career games played.
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