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With Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen off to such hot starts, a fellow Oilers fan posed a question to me about when the Edmonton Oilers had last had such a sound goaltending duo in net.

The answer? It’s been 33 years.

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tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or 33 years since Edmonton Oilers last had as strong a goaltending duo as Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen Back to video

Grant Fuhr and Andy Moog were not only the best two goalies in Oilers history, they also guarded the net together during the same magnificent run, from 1982 to 1987 when the team won its first three Stanley Cups.

In most of those seasons, Moog and Fuhr gave the Oilers what they have since lacked, a tandem of goalies who were both above the league average when it came to save percentage.

There’s no perfect statistical way to rate goalies, but perhaps the soundest quick-and-dirty way is to simply compare a goalie’s save percentage to the league average.

For example, in 1983-84, Edmonton’s first Cup year and the first time Moog and Fuhr were both excellent at the same time, the NHL’s league average save percentage was .873.