"In hockey, goaltending 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, former NHL player and NHL coach.
Without question, goaltending has significantly affected each conference final in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"Goaltending and health are the big pieces when it comes to who wins," Sportsnet analyst Justin Bourne said.
It was evident throughout the Western Conference Final, won by the Vegas Golden Knights with a sweep of the Colorado Avalanche with a 2-1 win in Game 4 on Wednesday.
"The Knights got the better goaltending," said Glenn "Chico" Resch, who won the Stanley Cup with the New York Islanders in 1980 and is now an analyst for the New Jersey Devils.
Carter Hart outplayed Scott Wedgewood in the first three games, then Mackenzie Blackwood in Game 4. He was clearly the difference-maker, going 4-0 with a 1.75 goals-against average and .944 save percentage in the series.
"Hart has been rock solid," said former NHL forward Colby Armstrong, now an analyst for Sportsnet. "He's like Vegas' 'secret weapon -- the best throughout the series."
Former NHL goalie Marty Biron, now a Buffalo Sabres analyst for MSG Networks and TSN, believes Hart's success is rooted in his "different" method of stopping the puck.
"Hart doesn't go for the 'Butterfly' technique," Biron told me via email. "He's different from Wedgewood in that Carter is more about positioning and calm. He's great with rebounds, not allowing second and third opportunities in tight.
"Plus, (Vegas coach) John Tortorella knows Hart from when they were together in Philly when Torts was coaching the Flyers. John is very comfortable with Hart and Carter has proven his worth with great performances."
And after three straight losses, Avalanche coach Jared Bednar made the switch from Wedgewood to Blackwood in Game 4. Blackwood stopped 24 of 26 shots, but only one of Colorado’s 21 shots found its way past Hart on Wednesday.
"I liked Wedgewood during the regular season,” Biron said. “He was very quick in the crease and he battled a ton in previous series."
Hart lauded Torts over the first three games of the series. The goalie told Arnie Stapleton of The Associated Press he appreciated how the coach has transformed the Golden Knights into a hot playoff team.
"What ‘Torts’ has done since coming aboard is to rally our group," Hart said. "He's earned our trust in him. I'm very happy that he's here."
Tortorella said the feeling is mutual.
"Carter is a hell of a goalie,” he said. “He was great in Philly, and since then he's grown so strong mentally. Not much bothers him."
Then, a pause.
"He's zeroed in."
Every NHL team has at least one goalie coach; something that was unheard of prior to the League expanding from six to 12 teams in 1967. One of the first and most prominent goalie coaches was former NHL goalie Jacques Caron, who worked with three-time Cup winner and Devils Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur.
"Jacques was a big part of my career and my success," Brodeur said. "He made my goaltending life easier just being with me."
It wasn't so easy for goalies in the pre-1960s era. None wore masks and when injured they went for repairs and then returned to the crease. Typical was Walter "Turk" Broda, the Toronto Maple Leafs goalie from 1936-1942 and 1946-1952. A Hall of Famer, Broda starred for five Stanley Cup winners.
"Our goaltending was why we won four Stanley Cups in five years," former Maple Leafs boss Conn Smythe said in 1951 after they defeated the Montreal Canadiens. "We had the best guy between the pipes in Broda."
Another Toronto sextet won the Stanley Cup four times between 1962 and 1967 under Smythe's successor, George "Punch" Imlach. Over seven years, Imlach rotated three goalies -- Hall of Famers Johnny Bower and Terry Sawchuk, as well as Don Simmons.
"Each one of them gave us an edge in every one of the Cup years," Imlach said.
It's anybody's guess how goaltending will impact the remainder of the playoffs, but one thing is certain -- each goalie will be under the media microscope.
"When it comes to the final round," Resch said, "it wouldn't surprise me if goaltending makes the difference between winning and losing."
