from Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
Thirteen years into his NHL career Alex Ovechkin is finally playing for the Stanley Cup. Postseason failure has dogged the Washington Capitals superstar.
Trouble is, goaltending is legal in the NHL, unlike the NBA. And goaltending can either carry a team to the Stanley Cup or doom it to playoff failure.
No individual athlete plays a bigger role in deciding team championships. One great goaltender can be the equivalent of an entire shutdown pitching staff.
A superstar like Ovechkin can hammer shot after shot after shot after shot at a hot goaltender and fail to propel his team. Breakaways, open one-timers, redirections, rebound whacks — a netmender in the zone can stop everything.
Conversely, one shaky goaltending performance is the baseball equivalent of the entire pitching staff tanking.
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