Devon Levi just explained the odd ritual fans have noticed, and the Oilers goalie says a famous movie scene may be behind it.
He did it after backstopping Edmonton to a 1-0 win at Toronto on Saturday night, the 24-year-old's latest big night in the Oilers crease.
Sportsnet's Kyle Bukauskas caught up with the netminder about taking off his blocker and touching the ice with his bare hand. Levi pointed to a scene from Gladiator, in which the main character picks up sand and plays with it.
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Levi was careful not to oversell the connection. "I don't know if that's why I started doing it, but that was a cool scene," he said. So it isn't a grand origin story, just a goalie who liked a movie moment and kept the habit.
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It's a ritual worth watching tonight. The Oilers play at Philadelphia on Sunday, and Levi's shutout leaves the crease in good shape for whoever gets the call.
Saturday's game was as clean as it gets for the goalie. Levi stopped all 19 shots he faced and played the full 60:00, with Anthony Stolarz stopping 22 of 23 at the other end.
Evan Bouchard scored the game-winner, and Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid each added an assist. That was all the offense Edmonton needed.
Why Levi's shutout matters for the Oilers' goalie picture
Edmonton has leaned on Levi at a time when the crease is thin. As we noted in Frederik Andersen and Matthew Savoie's injury update, Andersen remains sidelined with no return in sight, according to Mike Babcock's latest word.
That puts a lot of weight on a goalie with 49 career NHL games and a seventh-round draft pedigree, picked 212th overall by the Florida Panthers in 2020. Ten games into this season, he already has a win and a shutout in Toronto to show for it.
The Oilers sit at 15-3-3 and first in the Pacific Division, riding a four-game winning streak. A team that good can survive on a hot goalie for a while, and Levi gives Babcock a reason to keep trusting him.
Whether he starts in Philadelphia hasn't been announced. If he does, expect the blocker to come off and the hand to hit the ice before the puck drops.
This article was written with the help of artificial intelligence, based on public reports and official sources.
Should the Oilers keep riding Devon Levi while Frederik Andersen is out?
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