Walleye could dance with goalie

Serving multiple masters from the bottom of the totem pole has been a strain on the Toledo Walleye.

Earlier this season, for example, coach Nick Vitucci had what he considered a shared No. 1 goalie situation with Carter Hutton and Thomas McCollum. Then the top goalies at Rockford and Grand Rapids, both of the American Hockey League, went down with injuries.

Rockford is the top affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks. Grand Rapids is the AHL branch of the Detroit Red Wings organization. The Walleye are tied in with both NHL masters.

So Hutton went to Rockford, McCollum to Grand Rapids and the Walleye visited goalie wilderness, winning just six of their next 18 games.

"Flatlined," Vitucci said.

It's funny how things sometimes work out.

When Hutton got to Rockford he displaced Alec Richards. When the injured goalie, Alexander Salak, was reactivated, Hutton got the nod to stay. The Blackhawks wanted Richards playing on a regular basis, so he was shipped off to Toledo.

The Fish won their first four games with Richards -- he had a 1.93 goals against average -- before a rough third period Friday night at Greenville. Toledo will face the same opponent again later Sunday in South Carolina.

"It has been a huge difference," Vitucci said. "No disrespect to the other goalies we had or have, but when you have a legitimate No. 1 goalie the team has so much of a positive vibe and confidence. And sports are all about confidence. You win, you feel good. It carries over to the next game, then the next. Winning means excitement in the room and guys having fun playing and enjoying each other."

Richards is well known to Walleye fans, and the recent success has served as a flashback to the team's inaugural 2009-10 season when Richards, fresh out of Yale University, sparked a hot midseason stretch that led Toledo into the ECHL playoffs. He posted a 17-12-5 record before being sidelined by injury before the start of the playoffs.

The goal is the same now. Despite the Walleye languishing in last place in the North Division, they are within four points of grabbing one of the eight playoff berths available to the 12 Eastern Conference teams. There are 22 games left in the regular season, albeit only 10 of them on home ice at the Huntington Center, where Toledo leads the league in attendance.

"It's realistic," Vitucci said. "You never accept not making the playoffs. We didn't last year, and it stunk. We started slow this season, hit some more rough stretches because of call-ups and injuries, but now we're in a position to scratch and claw our way back into it. We can dig in now."

With the exception of captain Kyle Rogers, who has been solid at both ends of the ice, the Walleye have been somewhat offensively challenged -- Vitucci prefers the word inconsistent -- at times and are among the lowest-scoring teams in their conference.

That matters less with a stout goalie to mask mistakes and make fewer goals stand up.

"You make a mistake, you know there's a guy back there battling for you," Vitucci said.

And, now, Vitucci feels his team is ready to go into a playoff battle.

"We'll lean on Alec as long as he can go and as long as he's here," Vitucci said. "It's important for him, for any goalie, to play everyday because the more settled they get the more they stop thinking and just react. That's when he is at his best. We've seen him on this dance floor before."

With Richards leading, the Walleye hope to waltz right into the playoffs.

Contact Blade sports columnist Dave Hackenberg at: dhack@theblade.com or 419-724-6398.