In working on the story for Thursday's paper about the health of Washington's two 22-year-old goaltenders Semyon Varlamov and Michal Neuvirth, the question of whether any other team in the league had two goaltenders going back and forth in net partially because of injury naturally came up. Granted the Capitals always planned on splitting time between Varlamov and Neuvirth, the injuries to both have often dictated when each would be in net.

First it was a matter of finding teams that have split their starts, for the most part, between two goaltenders. From there, we looked at how many games each goalie missed with an injury -- this might not include games where a player is unable to play with a minor injury that is not listed in the league's seasonal records.

It wasn't included in the final story so, for those who are interested, the numbers are after the jump. It's a look at the rest of the league simply for comparison sake, while understanding that the Capitals embarked on an approach in goal no other team has in relying on the young tandem.

The other teams that split their goaltending duties evenly between two players, seem to do so based solely on competition with both netminders healthy or if one suffers an injury that shifts the balance to the other. No other team appears to have had multiple goaltenders come out and back in to the lineup repeatedly with injuries.

Chicago Blackhawks:
Marty Turco, 25 games started, 0 missed due to injury
Corey Crawford, 23 games started, 0 missed due to injury

Colorado Avalanche:
Craig Anderson, 26 games started, 13 missed with knee and groin injuries
Peter Budaj, 20 games started, 0 missed due to injury

Columbus Blue Jackets:
Steve Mason, 29 games started, 1 missed with a groin injury
Mathieu Garon, 19 games started, 0 missed due to injury

Minnesota Wild:
Niklas Backstrom, 27 games started, 4 missed with a hip injury (returned Weds)
Jose Theodore, 17 games started, 4 missed with a hip injury

San Jose Sharks:
Antti Niemi, 26 games started, 0 missed due to injury
Antero Nittymaki, 21 games started, 0 missed due to injury

Toronto Maple Leafs:
Jonas Gustavsson, 21 games started, 0 missed due to injury
Jean-Sebastien Giguere, 18 games started, missed 11 with a groin injury