Importance of goaltending?

[HonusWagner66]

Ken Campbell had an interesting article of in the latest issue of The Hockey News about the importance of goaltending in the playoffs nowadays. Here is a paragraph that sums up his point:

The fact of the matter is goaltending only becomes a factor in the playoffs when it is not up to snuff. A goalie doesn't have to be spectacular to lead his team to the promise land. He simply can't be so bad that he loses it for his team. The way the NHL is today, teams lose because of goaltending. They don't win because of it.

Agree/disagree? How important is having strong goaltender?

 

[hankdog1938]

Sorry but cant agree, look at the Montreal/ Washington series for all the evidence you need. Halak got hot and stole the series

 

[mooger_35]

Disagree. Goaltending can win or lose you a series.

It is true that a goaltender can be just good enough to win (ala Grant Fuhr) but to say a goalie can't steal a series, or give one away, is false in my book.



/is a goalie

 

[dash]

Agree/disagree? How important is having strong goaltender?

If you don't have good goaltending, you're not going anywhere in the playoffs. More important than having an elite goaltender is having a hot goaltender. Halak is not considered elite (yet), but he certainly is hot.

 

[BOSSMANPC]

If you don't have good goaltending, you're not going anywhere in the playoffs. More important than having an elite goaltender is having a hot goaltender. Halak is not considered elite (yet), but he certainly is hot.

I agree 100 %

 

[HonusWagner66]

Halak stole a series. Maybe he'll make it 2 tonight. But he is a long way away from the Cup, which is what we're talking about here. Just keep that in mind.

Personally, I'd take my chances on a team with a strong group of forwards and solid blueliners with an "up to snuff" goaltender over an average team with a great goaltender to make it through the playoffs (not just a series).

 

[SFNL]

Varlamov was hot in the Eastern Conference finals last year... until game 7

 

[HonusWagner66]

Varlamov was hot in the Eastern Conference finals last year... until game 7

*semifinals

 

[SFNL]

I fail... but you get the point

 

[mattola]

I agree with Mooger Montreal is the perfect example. cant see how that can be argued. At least Fuhr wasnt as average as Moog. Dash is also right in having a hot goalie at the right time is way more important sometimes than the elite. (** See Cam Ward, Dwayne Roloson and Mikka Kippersoff)

/is a goalie too....... and runs away from Mooger....

 

[dash]

Personally, I'd take my chances on a team with a strong group of forwards and solid blueliners with an "up to snuff" goaltender over an average team with a great goaltender to make it through the playoffs (not just a series).

I'd take the chance as well, Honus. Also, having Crosby and Malkin on your team doesn't hurt either. Game 7 is always a scary proposition, one bad bounce off a stantion could decide who moves on.

Edit: Montreal won the first ever game played at Mellon Arena, could they also win the last game played at Mellon?

 

[HonusWagner66]

I'd take the chance as well, Honus. Also, having Crosby and Malkin on your team doesn't hurt either. Game 7 is always a scary proposition, one bad bounce off a stantion could decide who moves on.

Edit: Montreal won the first ever game played at Mellon Arena, could they also win the last game played at Mellon?

Haha well, I'd take having 87 and 71 over almost anything. I was talking about a more general theory, not so much a specific team. Game 7 is a crapshoot. I'd take luck over anything...

 

[HonusWagner66]

Look at it this way. I'd take Chicago to make it through the playoffs and win the Cup with a great group of forwards/defensemen with an average quality goaltender over a great goaltender driven team, like Buffalo or even Montreal with a hot Halak.

 

[forty_three]

Having a hot goalie is as important for his abilities to stop pucks as it is for his ability to get in players' heads. Patrick Lalime, a goalie who had no business being at the top of any list, absolutely OWNED the Flyers in 02. And you could see every player on the Flyers bench looking like "WTF do we have to do?". Sens had no business winning that series. It was all Lalime.

Patrick Roy said you have to stop 90 out of every 100 shots to play in the NHL. That's the minimum. The difference between "good" and "great" is how many of the other 10 you get to. And that is amplified x10 in the playoffs. Defensive teams can make a goalie look better, but ultimately, he still has to make that stop when it gets through.

 

[KennyBanyeah]

The quote from the OP is crap.

A goalie can absolutely win you a series. Halak has done it twice now.

Just to give a hypothetical example here. Two teams play equally well. One goalie plays a little bit better than the other and it's a 6 game series. If both goalies played even up, it's a game 7 coin toss. Not only did the better goalie let his team move on, but he gave them an extra day's rest.

What percentage of goalies win Conn Smythes as opposed to Hart trophies? The answer to that should have told Mr. Campbell all he needed to know about the importance of goaltending in the playoffs.

 

[davnlaguna]

As someone whose team has seen some goal tending that is not up to snuff, I give you an old quote
In hockey, goal-tending is 75 percent of the game. Unless it's bad goaltending. Then it's 100 percent of the game, because you're going to lose." ~ Gene Ubriaco

 

[Comeds]

I am sure some will laugh, but if the Penguins won the game and the series tonight the first player I would credit would have been Fleury. Before tonights game he let in some soft goals, but at times was really good.

I think the Habs played much better as a whole against the Penguins than they did against the Capitals. A couple of the games that the Pens won I thought the Habs were decent, but were just stymied by Fleury.

 

[Destroydacre]

Campbell is talking out of his ass. Does anyone honestly believe that Carolina in 02, Anaheim in 03, Calgary in 04 and Edmonton in 06 (among many others) make it to the SCF if Irbe, Giguere, Kipper and Roloson are only ok? Maybe 1 of them would have made it, but definitely not all of them. Having said that each of those teams was very good, you don't get to the Stanley Cup finals on goaltending alone. It's not like they were winning 1-0 in 2OT with the goalie stopping 50+ shots every night, but in each of those cases it was the goaltending that carried the team. I don't think there's anyone that will dispute that. A hot goalie can take you all the way to the finals, it's as simple as that.

 

[USCDoom]

Ken Campbell had an interesting article of in the latest issue of The Hockey News about the importance of goaltending in the playoffs nowadays. Here is a paragraph that sums up his point:



Agree/disagree? How important is having strong goaltender?

Disagree... No Goaltender has ever been Spectacular for a Playoff Series with a Poor Defense around him... All Defenses will break down or get Broken Down, its at this time when the Goaltender decides games... Obviously the more chances help but Teams advance Because of Goaltending not Despite it....

For all the noise about Malkin and Crosby not doing something... If Fleury had been Spectacular the Pens would be in the Eastern Conference Finals... The Better Goaltender in this Series decided it...