Pekka Rinne vs. Connor Hellebuyck

Goaltending is an integral part of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. To better understand the strengths and weaknesses of each goaltender, the final 100 goals allowed by each in the regular season and each goal in the playoffs were charted, with the help of Apex Video Analysis and Save Review System from Upper Hand Inc., to see what patterns emerge.

Two of the three finalists for the Vezina Trophy, awarded to the player voted the NHL's top goaltender, will meet in the Western Conference Second Round, and they're coming in hot.
RELATED: [Complete Predators vs. Jets series coverage]
Nashville Predators starter Pekka Rinne closed out the first round with a shutout, making 22 saves in a 5-0 Game 6 win against the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday. Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets bounced back quickly after being pulled in Game 3 against the Minnesota Wild in the first round, with consecutive shutouts to end the first-round series and eliminate the Wild in five games.
Rinne and Hellebuyck will meet in the second round, with Game 1 at Nashville on Friday.
Here is an in-depth look at each goalie's game:

Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators

After helping the Predators reach the Stanley Cup Final last season, Rinne, 35, made a couple of subtle, but significant, changes to his game this season. He adjusted his post play, with earlier entries in reverse-VH technique, eliminated a preshot hitch of tapping his blocker and glove together, and narrowed his stance on rush chances and plays from the point. He had a .927 save percentage during the regular season but stumbled at times down the stretch, and his .909 in the first round was the lowest among goalies to advance in the West.

Goal trends

Get out of his way:Rinne's style is less about filling space and more about reacting to shots, so it was a bit alarming to see teammates get between him and the puck so often in the first round, with screens a factor on five of 14 goals and deflections playing a role in four. That was a trend last season, when 33 percent of the goals allowed by Rinne involved a screen, but that number dropped to 18 percent this season, 4.4 percent below the average for goals tracked in breaking down playoff starting goalies for this project during the past two seasons. Rinne's taller, narrower stance should make it easier to see over screens and shift into long shots with his body rather than reaching for them, which leaves fewer holes in his 6-foot-5 frame. That also may explain why deflection goals against Rinne were down from 27 percent last season to 18 percent this season, but the Predators might want to let him see the release more and stop trying to play goalie themselves.
Clean off the rush:One of those screens came on the first goal of the series against Colorado, a long shot off the rush in Game 1. But even without a screen, Rinne was beaten cleanly from distance this season, with 24 of the 30 clean-look goals, when he had time to be set and could see the release, came off the rush.
Glove love: Rinne's impressive glove has been well documented, with roots in playing the Finnish version of baseball as a child. He will catch pucks on the other side of his body and scoop them off the ice in front of his pads, controlling rebounds other goalies would kick back into play. So it's surprising to see four high-glove goals in the first round. Most came on the screen plays, however. Shots mid-glove and over the pads are a better option on clean chances to take advantage of the hunched-over, glove-up stance that returns in Rinne's game as plays get closer to the net, causing slight delays with his hands as he pushes to the ice and limiting his low reach.

Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets

Hellebuyck, 24, had a breakout season after rebuilding his body this summer and updating key elements of his game with Jets goalie coach Wade Flaherty. All that work paid off with a .924 save percentage and 44 wins, passing Tom Barrasso for the most in a season by a United States-born goalie. The improvements to his foundation showed up when tracking his season and, after a little bit of reaching early, was increasingly evident as the first round progressed.

Goal trends

Blocker not glove:One of the biggest changes Hellebuyck made with Flaherty starting late last season is his glove position. He used to hold it unusually low along the edge of his pad, leaving him over-reliant on his elbow to make chicken wing saves up high. Hellebuyck was right around the average for mid- to high-glove goals this season, and showed off his new glove position with a great save on Wild forward Charlie Coyle in the opening minute of Game 2 in the first round. His number of allowed goals above the pad on the blocker side were higher than average and accounted for 43 percent of his tracked goal total. Unlike the glove, there is a tendency to turn and pull away on high-blocker shots rather than cutting them off in front of him. It manifests itself in two ways: reaching more on saves or goals, and more pucks under that arm.
Make him move:Even with deeper positioning in his crease, Hellebuyck's size (6-foot-4, 207 pounds) and tight stance doesn't leave shooters much space, forcing great shots on straight-line attacks. Creating lateral plays, which accounted for 51 percent of his tracked goals in the season, is important, and forcing him to move to his right helps. Hellebuyck moves better to his glove than his blocker, which isn't uncommon, and it showed up with more reaching and falling forward on blocker-side, back-door deflections against the Wild. Moving the other way, he showed better balance and vertical coverage pushing across to get a glove on Matt Dumba's 3-on-1 chance in Game 4.
Bad angles:Hellebuyck got caught going into his reverse-VH, sharp-angle technique with the puck too high in the zone on Eric Staal's high short-side shot in Game 3, but the addition of the technique to his post-integration repertoire during the past two seasons has mostly been a positive. Even with eight goals from either a bad angle or using bad-angle techniques during the season, Hellebuyck usually does a nice job of not defaulting to his post play too early.