Goalie depth proving to be crucial in NHL playoffs, and perhaps beyond

Goalie depth has never been more important in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and at least one team appears to already be applying that lesson to its plans for next season.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are the only team still playing that has used one goalie: Andrei Vasilevskiy. The Montreal Canadiens were one of nine teams to use one goalie in this unique 24-team postseason and one of four that played in the first round to use their No. 1 goalie start to finish, but they, too, appeared to learn something about the importance of depth at the position.
After seeing how well a rested Carey Price performed coming off the five-month pause in the NHL season due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus, the Canadiens took a step to ensure they can better manage Price's minutes moving forward by trading for St. Louis Blues backup Jake Allen on Wednesday.

Price has a .910 save percentage in 173 games over the past three seasons, fifth among goalies having played that many games in that span. That's well below his .917 NHL career save percentage, but the 33-year-old had a .936 save percentage in 10 games this postseason, despite those numbers dropping off over the final three games, which included starting back-to-back games.
No wonder Montreal, which has 13 wins and an .888 save percentage in 31 starts by a backup goalie over the past two seasons, sought stability and experience at the position.
"If you look around the League that's pretty much what 75 percent of the teams are leaning on now," Allen said. "A season is so taxing, the game is so fast, the position is so demanding that two guys really benefits the organization from top to bottom, that can play and give the team success night in and night out and back-to-back games and things of that nature."
That has certainly been the case in these playoffs.
The Colorado Avalanche have fought back from being down 3-1 in the Western Conference Second Round to force Game 7 against the Dallas Stars on Friday using third-string goalie Michael Hutchinson after injuries to Philipp Grubauer and Pavel Francouz, with the Stars relying on backup Anton Khudobin because of an injury to Ben Bishop. The Vancouver Canucks have also forced a Game 7 after being down 3-1 to the Vegas Golden Knights with rookie backup Thatcher Demko after Jacob Markstrom was injured playing back-to-back games; the Golden Knights have used Robin Lehner and Marc-Andre Fleury in each of their three stages of this postseason.

Of the 24 teams involved in the NHL Return to Play plan, 13 started at least two goalies and 15 have used two. Of the 16 teams in the first round, 10 started two goalies and 12 used two. There have been 41 goalies used, and 38 goalies have started a game.
Having eight extra teams take part in the Stanley Cup Qualifiers skews the numbers compared to a typical playoff season, but even counting only the 16 teams that made it to the first round, there already have been 29 goalies used and 26 starters. It's the highest playoff total since 1996, when there were 26 starters and 31 goalies used, and still well above the 17 starters and 22 goalies used in the 2019 playoffs.
Much of that can be attributed to a condensed schedule this postseason. Each team has played back-to-back games each round so far with the exception of the round-robin portion of the qualifiers.
The Philadelphia Flyers and New York Islanders each split their starts in back-to-back games against each other in the second round. The Golden Knights and Carolina Hurricanes each split their back-to-back games in two rounds. Dallas was so determined to split back-to-back starts that Ben Bishop returned from injury for Game 5 against Colorado, with Stars coach Rick Bowness insisting later the choice was either Bishop or rookie Jake Oettinger making his NHL debut rather than Khudobin playing both games. Vancouver started Markstrom in back-to-back games against Vegas, and he was unfit to play after the second one.
Though the amount of back-to-back games is unique to these playoffs, Allen said he believes there will be at least one condensed regular season to follow, increasing the importance of tandems (the NHL has not announced a starting date for next season).
"It doesn't have to be one guy all the time," Allen said. "You see how much parity there is in the League. Points are crucial and every game counts. Every point counts, whether you can squeak one out in overtime and just get a point, it makes a difference at the end of the day. So I think the two-goalie system is a new thing that is really trending upward."