The last the Stars saw of Phoenix Coyotes goalie Sean Burke, he was strolling out of Reunion Arena with two points stuffed in his carry-on.
These were points the Stars couldn’t believe they didn’t claim after their 4-2 loss last week, a loss that coach Ken Hitchcock still calls his team’s finest all-around effort of the season. The Stars outworked the Coyotes and outshot them 30-18. Burke was simply better.
Three nights later, the 33-year-old put up another brick wall, shutting out the Colorado Avalanche with 45 saves. Colorado outshot Phoenix, 45-16, yet it was the Avalanche that suffered its first loss of the season, while the Coyotes added to their franchise-best start.
Then on Wednesday night, Burke made 25 saves in a 1-1 deadlock against Anaheim to extend the Coyotes’ unbeaten streak to 10 games. After a tie Friday night, their streak grew to 7-0-4-0.
“He’s outstanding. What can you say?” Coyotes coach Bob Francis asked. “I don’t know how many times I can say it. I don’t know a goaltender in this league that’s played better than Sean up to this point.”
As the Stars and Avalanche made certain, Burke isn’t simply drifting through games with his feet up watching his team torch opponents for 60 minutes. The Coyotes have been outshot in nine of their last 10 games by a combined 115-shot differential, 326-211. The Coyotes’ run has hinged on Burke making big save after big save.
“He’s the main reason why we are here,” Coyotes center Jeremy Roenick said.
“Here” being alone atop the Pacific Division over the Stars and Mighty Ducks of Aaheim.
“He’s on a roll,” Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said of Burke. “Not to take anything away from Sean, he’s played wonderful, but he’s an extension of a team game. They’re playing a very strong team game.”
Chosen as the player of the month for October, Burke has built a 7-1-2 record and an unbeaten streak that dates to Oct. 12. He leads the league (among goalies who have played at least five games) with a 1.48 goals-against average and 95.1 save percentage.
When Anaheim’s Oleg Tverdovsky slipped a puck through Burke’s pads with 14:10 remaining in the third period Wednesday, it snapped Burke’s streak of 78 saves and 132 scoreless minutes.
“He’s been huge,” Coyotes captain Keith Tkachuk said. “Especially under the circumstances with all the hoopla about [Nikolai] Khabibulin.”
Ah, yes, Khabibulin, the spectacular, 27-year-old goaltender who is now in his second season of a contract holdout with outgoing ownership. Despite Burke’s early heroics, how long he remains in net, or even remains in Phoenix, is now in the hands of the incoming ownership group, spearheaded by hockey legend Wayne Gretzky.
The group says it will sign Khabibulin once the sale of the Coyotes is complete, which the team said is completed and awaits only NHL paperwork before an official announcement.
Burke could be relegated to backup duty or even traded. He has the full support of his teammates and coaches, but none of that, like his outstanding play, might matter.
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“I understand what their agenda is,” Burke said of the incoming ownership group. “But my job is to go out there every night and play for the guys that are on this team and if, at the end of the day, it makes their decision more difficult, then that is my goal.”
If Burke keeps the hot hand, he would at least do that.
But his fast start can’t mask his previous 12 seasons and their 3.16 goals-against average, which grows to 3.45 in the postseason. He’s won only two playoff games–and lost 13–in the last 11 seasons.
If Khabibulin is content and ready to concentrate on playing in the NHL, he is projected as a superstar for years to come.
“I have always been a guy that was a No. 1 goaltender and had a job to do and was expected to go out and play hard for the team every night,” Burke said.