Soon, it would be wise for the Detroit Red Wings to accept that Daniil Tarasov is the best goaltender on the roster.

Even after Tarasov stood on his head in a 31-save, 2-0 shutout win that halted Detroit’s five-game losing skid, Red Wings coach Todd McLellan wasn’t ready to commit to that time being now.

“Well, we’ve been on the road for 18 of the last 20 some days,” was McLellan’s response to reporters about whether it was time to go with the hot hand. “We’re going to go home, and we’re going to relax [Sunday], and we’ll take everything into consideration.

“He’s obviously played really well, and we believe in him.”

At this juncture, there’s really only one question to answer.

What is there left to consider?

Gibson is 4-7-1 with a 3.58 goals-against average and .862 save percentage. He’s lost his last three decisions and four of his past five.

Gibson ranks 62nd among NHL goalies in GAA. He’s 66th overall in save percentage. No NHL netminder who’s played at least 600 minutes this season has worse numbers.

Tarasov Delivering For Red Wings

In the meantime, the math is adding up to elite numbers for Tarasov. He was signed to be a backup netminder, but he’s stopping pucks at an elite level.

In nine appearances, he’s 3-3-2. More significantly, among NHL goaltenders, Tarasov is second in save percentage (.931) and third in GAA (1.84).

In five of Tarasov’s starts, the Red Wings have scored two goals or fewer. Twice, they’ve not proven capable enough to even get him a goal. And he’s managed to be a .500 goalie (2-2-1) in those games, posting two shutouts of his own.

“I’m just trying to be focused on my game, just making the saves,” Tarasov said. “Just make the guys’ lives easy.”

From the outside, it would also seem that Tarasov is making McLellan’s decision on who to put between the pipes an easy one.

McLellan appears to be a coach who takes his time to warm up to newcomers. He’s quickly embraced Viktor Arvidsson and Andreas Englund, who previously played for him in Los Angeles. He is taking him time to feel that warmth toward Tarasov.

McLellan Says He’s Still Learning About Tarasov

“Just learning about him and how he works at his craft,” McLellan said. “He’s real coachable. I know that. And he’s real competitive in practice. He works really hard. Every puck is important to him.

“There’s nothing lazy about the rebounds or anything like that. So that’s been impressive, and it carries over into his game.”

Tarasov has started successive games just once all season, and that was because Gibson was injured. Gibson came into the season as the No. 1 goalie. He’s been granted ample opportunity to re-establish his claim to that role and has failed to do so.

The time is overdue for Tarasov to be given the same opportunity. And that opportunity needs to be granted immediately.