Just How Important is Goaltending in the Playoffs

Now that we're down to the final four, it's time to start taking a look at the  masked men between the pipes. They're only players on the ice for a full 60 minutes and the ones who continually jump in front of flying rubber missiles but when things go wrong they receive all the blame. Being a goaltender is a tireless and thankless job, you're either the hero or the goat. So far in these playoffs we've seen our fair share of goats and hero's between the pipes.

Regular season success has absolutely no baring on the postseason. Just ask the Chicago Blackhawks who found themselves trailing the Detroit Red Wings 3 games to 1 in their Western Conference Semi Final. In the same sense goaltending in the regular season is a completely different ball game than goaltending in the playoffs. Just ask Marc-Andre Fleury who is growing roots on the bench in Pittsburgh.

The pressure on a goaltender in the playoffs is surreal. One wrong move, react half a second to late, lose the puck in a scramble, allowing a goal that zaps your teams momentum and you're getting boo'd off the ice. Mix all those worries with; rebound control, defencive errors and some insanely talented forwards and you have everything that's going on inside the mind of a goalie. There's so much to think about and roughly a 10th of a second to react.

No matter how many goals a team scores or how skilled that team may be, without a solid goalie that team will not succeed. Goaltending is key for a long playoff run and for any team who's mission is the Stanley Cup

It's been a roller coaster ride for goalies throughout these playoffs. Jonathan Quick went from being the goat in game one to statistically being the best goalie through 2 rounds. Then you have a goalie like Tuukka Rask who's really showing he belongs and has been making people forget Tim Thomas. But then Rask wipes-out giving the Rangers an easy goal and unfortunately costs his team the game, which turns Rask into the goat.

Goaltending can help solidify a teams chances at a Stanley Cup or be the flat tire on that road. Sometimes all a team needs is to change it's goalie. We're going to look at the goalies who are making a positive impact on their team and some other goalies who are holding them back these playoffs.

Jimmy Howard

If the Detroit Red Wings built Howard a statue it wouldn't be enough to thank him for his efforts between the pipes this season. Coming into the postseason as a 7th seed and upsetting the number 2 seed and nearly upsetting the number one seed. Howard has outdueled both Jonas Hiller and Corey Crawford and as a result the Wings have been winning. Howard went 7-7-2 through the first two rounds and ranked 3rd with a GAA of 2.22 amongst goalies who had played 11 games.

Upon taking a 3-1 stranglehold on the Blackhawks, Howard and the Red Wings had won 5 of their last 6 games and the goaltender had them at the doorstep of a Conference Final birth. Unfortunately defeating the Blackhawks is a lot easier said then done and they came back from their 3-1 deficit to beat the Wings in 7 games. Despite the second round elimination, Jimmy Howard came up big for the Wings.

Jonathan Quick

In all honesty has there been a better, more clutch goalie through the playoffs? When you look at the statistics the answer is no. Howard is 8-5-2 through the playoffs sporting a 1.50 GAA and a .948 Save Percentage. And oh by the way he also has 3 shutouts. This may only be Jonathan Quick's second season leading a team in the playoffs but he's quickly turning into a clutch playoff goalie.

The way the Western Conference Finals have shaped up, we'll see proven playoff goalie Jonathan Quick square off against Corey Crawford who has yet to prove himself in the playoffs. Which goalie will elevate their team to the Finals?

Henrik Lundqvist

It's hard to watch the New York Rangers and not feel bad for Henrik Lundqvist. He is such a skilled goaltender but his team can't do anything to help him win. Makes one wonder if the Rangers are wasting the best years of the "kings" career. Despite his team virtually not showing up through the playoffs, Lundqvist has continually come up big time after time. When the Rangers needed him most in round 1 he stepped up posting back to back shutouts in games 6 and 7.

With his team down 3 games to the Boston Bruins, Lundqvist came out ready to play in game 4 and made 37 stops to help his team get their first win of the series. While Lundqvist stood tall the Bruins proved to be too much for the Rangers as the King was eliminated in game 5. With the lack of success in New York will Lundqvist stay there?

Tomas Vokoun

If not for Tomas Vokoun coming off the bench and stepping up after Fleury's meltdown, the Pittsburgh Penguins would probably be at home instead of the Eastern Finals. Vokoun has been shinning between the pipes and helped the Penguins focus on what they're good at; scoring goals.

No one knows if the Penguins will put Fleury back in again but with the way Vokoun has been playing, it would be tough to pull him. This may be Vokoun's Stanley Cup run from now on.

Tuukka Rask

It's hard to criticize a goalie who's won 8 games but watching these playoffs I haven't been impressed by Tuukka Rask. The only reason he has these wins is because his team has bailed him out time after time. In game 7 of the first round against the Leafs, he allows 4 goals and his team ends up down 4-1. Since the Bruins came back no one showed to much concern but his play in the first round was alarming. He wasn't stellar and didn't look much better than James Reimer.

Rask has just 1 playoff run under his belt and it didn't go very well. He's fairly in-experienced, this is his year to show that he can carry the team and perform in the playoffs. Despite his 8 wins he's posting a rough 2.22 GAA and a .928 Save Percentage, not fantastic numbers. He's getting by because his team is scoring. When the Bruins had a chance to close out the series in New York, Tuukka didn't bother to show up. He'll need to stay on-top of his game in order for the Bruins to make it to the Finals, especially if he comes up against the Penguins. If you don't agree name 1 game Rask has "stolen" for the Bruins, these playoffs.

Craig Anderson

Craig Anderson is another goalie who is hard to criticize. He's been the backbone of the Senators team and dominated in the first round. But in the second round he just hasn't been good enough. It's tough for any goalie to stop the likes of Sidney Crosby, James Neal, Evgeni Malkin and Jarome Iginla, but Anderson needed to find a way to stop the Penguins offence.

Anderson ranks last with 5 wins and a 3.01 GAA amongst all goalies who have gone 2 rounds. The Senators weren't able to get the goaltending they need to take down the Penguins.

Corey Crawford

Want to know the one reason the Chicago Blackhawks wont win the cup? Their goaltending. Splitting the season with Ray Emery really benefited Corey Crawford. Now that Crawford has been relied on to play on his own and steal some games for the Blackhawks, he hasn't been able to. With the kind of slump the Blackhawks are in they needed their goalie to steal a game or two for them and Crawford has failed to do that.

The Blackhawks want Crawford to be their goalie of the future but if he continues to bomb in the playoffs that future may be over in a hurry. It may be time for the Hawks to allow Crawford to learn during the playoffs, much like the Bruins did with Rask.

A goalie either becomes a hero or a goat in the playoffs, there's no room for average goaltending. The goaltenders who are turning heads and coming up big for their teams will be the ones who go far, while the others will fall into the shadows.

Why the Ottawa Senators Will Beat the Pittsburgh Penguins

On paper you see the 7th place Ottawa Senators squaring off against the 1st place Pittsburgh Penguins, and you feel sorry for the slaughter the Senators are going to go through. But the best part about the NHL playoffs is what's written on paper doesn't matter once you hit the ice. Just ask the Penguins how their easy round one with the 8th place New York Islanders panned out.

The Senators are not your typical 7th seeded playoff team. When you look at the final Eastern Conference playoff standings just 2 points separated 8th from 5th. The Senators were one win shy of 5th place and a match with the Boston Bruins and just one point up on 8th and a first round match with the Penguins. Since the East was so close and the Sens were just one point out of 5th you have to treat the Senators like a 5th seeded team.

After a hard-fought series with the Islanders, the Penguins must be ready for another hard-fought series with the Sens. The Sens are a very young and skilled team. They don't just rely on one guy to get the job done, it's a combined effort from everyone. The Senators easily dispatched of the number 2 ranked Montreal Canadiens by forcing them back on their heels and getting them off their game. If the Sens can do that again, it could be another long series for Crosby and the Pens, one that could see them eliminated.

While the Senators are nothing like the Philadelphia Flyers or Boston Bruins when it comes to physical play, the playoffs require every team to raise their level of physicality and the Sens have done that. Remember the big hit Eric Gryba laid on Lars Eller? Or game 3 when both teams barely had enough players to ice 2 lines after a line brawl?

The Senators, a much tougher team, baited the Canadiens into a physical battle. If the Sens manage to draw the Pens into that physical battle and force them off their game plan, it'll be lights out for the Pens who will be wondering what hit them.

The Ottawa Senators are also not the same team as they were 3 months ago. Erik Karlsson is back in the line-up and is beginning to look like the Norris winning defencemen he was a year-ago, Craig Anderson is back between the pipes and has been lights out posting a .950 Save Percentage and the Sens could be getting another boost should Jason Spezza return to the line-up.

The Senators are a young team that has been relying on the youthfulness of Erik Karlsson, Mika Zibanejad, Cory Conacher, Kyle Turris and Jean-Gabriel Pageau to lead the team. While the Pens rely on the skill of Sidney Crosby, James Neal and Evgeni Malkin to lead the way. The Penguins are a much older team than the Sens and use their veteran leadership and depth throughout the line-up to their advantage. But their age truly showed in round one against the Islanders. They were slow and lost battles for loose pucks all series, the Sens should be able to exploit that with their younger quicker players.

The two things that make the Senators a very scary threat in the East is their goaltending and defence.

The Penguins got lucky having to face a weak goalie in Evgeni Nabokov who allowed them to keep pace with the goals the Islanders were scoring. The Senators have one of the best netminders in the league in Craig Anderson. If the Penguins go back to Marc-Andre Fleury and he falters early on, the Sens will jump all over it and Anderson will shut the door.

Anderson is boasting a 1.80 Goals Against Average and a .950 Save Percentage while only allowing 9 goals throughout the first 5 games of the playoffs. The Sens don't let a lot of goals in, the Pens will need to score 1 or 2 garbage goals and then rely on their goaltending to squeak out close games in this series.

Then there's the whole matter of defence, before you even get to the brick wall that is Anderson. Their defence was the 2nd best in the NHL during the regular season allowing just 2.08 goals a game. Their penalty kill was the best ranked in the league killing off an outstanding 88% of their penalties. Plus they have one of the best defenceman in the NHL back on their blue-line with Karlsson who isn't afraid to rush the puck and pick up the slack by netting some goals himself.

The second round match-up between the Ottawa Senators and Pittsburgh Penguins is going to be a tough series and perhaps one of the closest in the playoffs. All the pressure will be riding on the Penguins a role reversal from 2007, the last time the Senators beat the Penguins in the playoffs. The Penguins are the team that everyone was and is expecting to challenge for the Stanley Cup and the Senators are just a speed block on that journey. The Senators have nothing to lose in this series, they've already come farther than most expected and have shown just how good a team they have.

After their tough series win over the Islanders the Penguins are a team that is down on the matt and now is the perfect time for the Sens to jump quickly and kick them while they're down. The Senators may be the Penguins toughest opponents in this years playoffs, the question becomes can they survive two series' where the underdog teams give them all they can handle?

At the end of the day this series is likely going to come down to goaltending. The Senators have no issues with Anderson and know he can get the job done. The Penguins have a number one goalie who can't stop a beach ball and is rattled, while their back-up is capable. Do the Penguins let Tomas Vokoun have a shot or do they go back to Fleury? Whoever the Penguins choose to go with will have to come up big in this series.

With Craig Anderson leading the way, the Ottawa Senators have all the tools to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins. In fact the Senators pose a very real Stanley Cup threat, not bad for a team who was decimated with injuries in March.

3 Ottawa Senators That Need To Step Up In Erik Karlsson's Absence

The Ottawa Senators were dealt a huge blow on Wednesday evening when they lost their best defenceman Erik Karlsson after an awkward collision in the corner with Matt Cooke in a 4-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Senators are now without two of their best players in Karlsson and Jason Spezza, but the loss of their Norris Winning defenceman and arguably the best defenceman in the game right now will be extremely difficult to overcome.

Cooke's skate lacerated Erik Karlsson's achilles which will result in the defenceman undergoing season-ending surgery. Was the "stomp" intentional or accidental? The NHL saw it as un-intentional as Cooke will not be suspended. In my opinion it was a routine hockey play that went horribly wrong, Cooke was just trying to keep his balance and his foot came down on the back of Karlsson's leg - complete accident with horrific results. Now before you freak out over saying  Cooke did it on purpose, ask yourself this- If this was anyone other than Matt Cooke would you be calling this an accident or intentional?

Whether you believe it was a clean play or not, it's a huge blow to the Senators who were having a very good start to the year. Now with both Karlsson and Spezza out of the lineup they have some big shoes to fill in order salvage the season. Which Senators will step up in Erik Karlsson's absence and help lead the team?

Daniel Alfredsson

There's a reason Alfredsson where's the "C" on his jersey, he's expected to lead the Ottawa Senators. What better time to lead this young Senators team than when two of their best players are hurt? Alfredsson has always been a solid leader for the Sens, often rallying them in close games, scoring the key goal. Right now he's 3rd on the team in scoring with 8 points, but he'll need to pick up that pace without the scoring of Spezza and Karlsson. In what may be Alfredsson's last season this is the perfect chance for him to go out as a hero, come in and rescue the team when their two key players go down and help guide them to the playoffs one last time.

The Senators have never needed their captain more then they do right now, everything they know and count on is falling apart they need their captain to step up and fill the gap for the season or until they can get reinforcements. Over the next few months we will see the true leadership skills of Daniel Alfredsson.

Kyle Turris

Turris all but gave up during his time with the Phoenix Coyotes demanding out as he no longer felt he could develop further. He got his wish when the Ottawa Senators came to his rescue and brought him in to play with Jason Spezza. Turris enjoyed playing on a line with the skilled Spezza and reaped the benefits by putting up 29 points. But now without his linemate Turris needs to start making his own luck and help the Senators who helped him out of Pheonix.

"I've got to come through with creating more opportunities for myself and my linemates and be more offensively productive." ~ Kyle Turris

With Spezza out, Turris will be called upon to take up the offence that is missing. After being dubbed as a "draft bust" it's time for Turris to put all his skills together and produce like the Senators are expecting him to. Turris currently leads the team with 11 points and will need to keep up his strong play and help elevate the game of his teammates if the Senators have any hope of persevering through the injuries.

Craig Anderson

As good as Anderson has been to start off the year he now has to be even better. With Karlsson going down (who was leading the team in goals) and Spezza one of the best natural goal scorers on the shelf, goals will be hard to come by for the Senators which means Anderson needs to be near perfect. Posting a .949 Save Percentage and 1.58 Goals Against Average with 7 wins through 12 games, Anderson has been one of the best goalies to start off the year. He'll need to keep standing on his head and shutting down the opposition as the Senators may find themselves in a lot of 1 goal games.

With their best defenceman, and future captain out indefinitely, things are not about to get any easier for the Ottawa Senators who need to buckle down and grind out some tough wins. Daniel Alfredsson, Kyle Turris and Craig Anderson will all need to bring their "A" game to lead the Senators through the rest of the season without Erik Karlsson.