Goalies taking center stage in East
When the difference between winning and losing is a puck shot from behind the goal line that goes in off his helmet, all Henrik Lundqvist can do is shake his head.
Among the 41 saves he made against the Senators, the Rangers goaltender knew all anyone wanted to know was how that one crazy goal went in. “That’s the life of a goalie,” Lundqvist said. Life as a goaltender in the Eastern Conference during the second round of the playoffs is complicated, whether it’s the matchup between Lundqvist and very capable Senators counterpart Craig Anderson or the Capitals’ reigning Vezina Trophy winner Braden Holtby against the Penguins’ Marc-Andre Fleury. The Senators and Penguins are each up in their respective series going into Saturday’s Game 2s because of goaltending, which will take on even greater importance moving forward.
“If you don’t have the goalies, it’s hard to win,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said Friday. “In a series there’s going to be games where the difference is going to be the goalie on the other side is going to make one more save or your goalie is going to make one more save.”
One more save by Holtby on Sidney Crosby or Nick Bonino in Game 1 would’ve made a difference even considering his 18 other stops. Meanwhile Fleury stopped 33 of the 35 shots the Capitals put his way, including four without his stick during a mad scramble in the final minutes that he called “fun.”
The Capitals outshot the Penguins 35-21 in their 3-2 loss in Game 1, and though Trotz thought Holtby was fine, the Vezina finalist wanted two of those goals back.
“I know I need to be better if we’re going to have success, and that’s basically the bottom line,” Holtby said.
Lundqvist knows that pressure all too well after making 21 saves in the first period alone Thursday and keeping the Rangers in Game 1 before Erik Karlsson’s sharp-angle goal in the third. The Swedish star kicked himself for waiting and guessing too much on the Senators’ game-winner, but teammates weren’t going to blame him for losing a 2-1 game.
“He was fantastic,” center Derek Stepan said. “We need him to be our best player, and he was phenomenal again.”
Only problem is, so was Anderson, who has phenomenal career numbers against the Rangers and is 5-2 with a 1.81 goals-against average and .930 save percentage so far in these playoffs. Anderson’s ability to stop breakaways sets him apart, and making the timely save is sometimes even more valuable than making a large quantity of them.
“He’s made those huge saves on those breakaways, and he’s made I think the key save at the right time,” coach Guy Boucher said. “That’s our goalie. He’s done that. We know we’ve got a good goalie. We know we’re playing against a good one, but we know we got a good one.”