Billington played well in the preseason, which is why Crawford is giving
him an early season start.
"Patrick will basically play eight of 10 games,'' Crawford said. "We
want to let them (goalies) know as much in advance as we can on which games
they will be playing. Last year we made Billy wait. We don't want to do
that this year. He had a great training camp, and we wanted to give him
a game early.''
Billington, who was 11-8-2 with a 2.65 goals-against average in a relief
role last season, didn't get a start until the seventh game of the 1996-97
season.
Tonight, he will be playing against a Bruins team for whom he played 35
games during the 1994-95 and 1995-86 seasons. He lost to Boston 4-1 last
season.
"I look forward to each and every start I get,'' Billington said. "You
work hard in practice so you are sharp for the games. The reason I work
as hard as I do is so I can have some success in the games.
"Patrick counts on me to give him the night off, and the team counts
on me to play well when I'm in there. It's a responsibility I have and a
role on this team.''
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