Certainly in the West playoffs, and to some extent the East, Goalies are asserting themselves as the key ingredient in winning. This is nothing new to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Particularly this year. A little difference in goal tending and …. well we know we need improvement in out goal tending. Both the Blackhawks and the Red Wings were considered to have average goal tending and powerful clubs, both made the playoffs. Both have packed their bags and headed home, Defeated by a top shelf goal tender.
To quote from a recently published link on the Hub: Re Coyotes win, ” Finally, there is the craziness that is the NHL playoff picture as a whole. All four teams that advanced in the Western Conference have two things in common: they all have award-worthy goalies (Jonathan Quick in LA, Brian Elliott in St. Louis, Pekka Rinne in Nashville, and Smith in Phoenix), and they all are in the “never won a Cup” club. In fact, of the 10 teams left in the playoffs, seven of them have never won the Stanley Cup. If the Florida Panthers, Washington Capitals, and Ottawa Senators all can win their series, there will be only one team left in hockey’s elite eight, the Philadelphia Flyers, who has actually won a Cup championship.”
Of course all that glitters is not goaldie. The team playing in front of the goaltender who controls the shots on goal and the true scoring chances certainly affects the goalie performance. And of course he goalie feeds of the teams performance, etc, etc. The point is, some of the teams in the playoffs are there because of their goalie. Some are there because of their team, including the goalie. But in a short series, the hot goalie tends to take over. The “award winning” goalies are showing why they are recognized that way. I look for LA & Nashville to move to the next round because they have the better total team+goalie. But Smith from Phoenix is the hottest goalie and Hitch’s system protects his goalies. so it’s still a tossup.
We want the Cup