Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Will Goaltending Be The Difference In The Stanley Cup Final?

05/26/2018 at 9:21am EDT

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.

continued

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About Kukla's Korner Hockey

Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

From breaking news to in-depth stories around the league, KK Hockey is updated with fresh stories all day long and will bring you the latest news as quickly as possible.

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