Let the 2021-2022 NHL Postseason be known for the GOALTENDER or backup goaltender or third string goaltender, I can’t keep track of all these guys. We currently have four teams: Carolina, Pittsburgh, Nashville and you might even consider Edmonton all which are using goalies who were not planned on being the starting goaltender for the playoffs. A quirky and odd position, much like a catcher in baseball, the goalie was always someone who you never turned your back on. My goalie in college was named Mike Klepper and man was he strange. A monster of a man who you didn’t know what the heck he was going to do at any time. We’d invite him to parties but you kind of wished he wouldn’t come because like most goalies, they rarely spoke. So most of the time not only did we, as his teammates avoid him, but the girls definitely wanted nothing to do with him. My roommate in college, Matt Ciccarello, happened to also be crazy, so he saw Klepper much like a mouse or a play toy and sought out every opportunity to test his already fragile sanity. We’d be warming up, taking laps and you would usually saddle up with a buddy and shoot the breeze, getting the legs moving, talking about what we were gonna do over the weekend. No one and I mean no one, ever skated with the goalies, God knows what they were thinking about, you didn’t even want to make eye contact with them. One day Cicc sneaks up behind Klepper and flips his goalie stick out of his hands and over the boards into the fourth or fifth row in the bleachers. Klepper turns around and grabs Cicc as if he’d been waiting for someone to step out of line. He has his waffle and catching glove off and he’s hammering Cicc’s face. Back then we had these old wire face masks that was more cool factor than any form of protection and at the moment it was being used as a nose bender, tooth realigner and chin splitter. The coaches aren’t on the ice yet, so these two keep going at it. Cicc’s helmet has finally found its way onto the ice and he has managed to land a couple of pops himself. Once we feel that each guy has gotten their fair share, we step in and break it up. Cicc goes off to the locker room to clean himself up and Klepper convinces the equipment manager to fetch his stick and practice moves on like normal. Me, I’m still avoiding eye contact and keeping the crease clear as to not draw any ire from my netminder. This in a nutshell was the life of a collegiate ice hockey goalie.
There are a couple of characteristic that we’re seeing from the TOP teams in the playoffs:
Criteria 1: A starting goalie (that is playing NOW) who won 30+ games AND also lost 15 or less for their respective team this season.
Current Playoff Goalies
Bobrovsky, FLA (39-7); Vasilevskiy, TB (29-18); Kuemper, COL (37-12); Shesterkin, NYR (36-13); Campbell, TOR (31-9); Markstrom, CGY (37-15); Oettinger, DAL (30-15); Fluery, MIN (28-23); Ullmark, BOS (26-10); Husso, STL (25-7); Quick, LA (23-13); Vanecek, WASH (20-12);
Smith, EDM (16-9); Kochetkov, CAR (3-0); Ingram, CBJ (1-2); Domingue, PIT (1-1)
Criteria 2: A team with players who can score 15+ goals.
Current Playoff Teams
STL (10), TB (9), FLA (9), COL (8), BOS (8), CAR (7), TOR (7), MIN (7), PIT (7), NASH (6), CGY (6), LA (6), NYR (5), EDM (5), WASH (5), DAL (5)
From the group, I would say that FLA, TB, COL, CAR and TOR all meet those two requirements and STL and NYR are viable contenders. Two of these seven should find their way into the finals in a month’s time.
PIT 2 @ NYR 5 (Series Tied 1-1)
🗣️IT'S A POWER PLAY GOAL pic.twitter.com/5qWVvH6ren
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) May 6, 2022
Let’s focus on some obvious and not so obvious things. First, the not so obvious, game one: Copp (9), Kreider (8), Panarin (7), Miller (9), Trouba (8); game two: Panarin (5), Copp (2), Kreider (2), Trouba (0) and Miller (1). Guess what stat that represents? Giveaways! I don’t think you can find a more telling reason on why New York struggled so much in Game 1 and why they didn’t in game two. The obvious is that Igor Shesterkin is the best goaltender in the NHL. If the Rangers can keep the turnovers to a minimum, they have enough goal scorers on the team and more than enough of a defense (which includes the goalie) to go deep into the playoffs. Pittsburgh was a horrible wager at home, losing $880. The Rangers on the other hand were great on the road, winning $1,018 for the year.
WASH 1 @ FLA 5 (Series Tied 1-1)
We've said it before, we'll say it again: Huby & Barky are simply not fair 🤯 pic.twitter.com/ILVeyBEwei
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) May 6, 2022
Florida dominated this game from the start. The talented tic-tac-toe passing from the Panthers is at another level with these guys. Bobrovsky seems to find himself always square to the shot and he does an excellent job controlling rebounds. Washington won only 46% of their games in DC, so going home holds no advantage for the Caps. Take advantage of any inappropriate odds from Vegas lines makers pertaining to Florida. Let’s remember that betting Washington at home netted us a loss of $1,747 and Florida was the big winner with a profit of $1,934.
NASH 1 @ COL 2 (OT) (COL leads 2-0)
SHEEEEESH#GOAVSGO pic.twitter.com/ctkxBm9EN6
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) May 6, 2022
What a battle! You gotta give mad props to Nashville for not giving in. Another exciting game that extended into extra time. Colorado was relentless and kept attacking Nashville and their rookie goalie. Ingram looked like a veteran, and much like Louis Domingue for the Pens you thought he just might pull out the win, but it was not meant to be. Colorado only won 59% of their games on the road and Nashville won 61% of their home games. So going back to Nashville will continue to be tough for Colorado, this series isn’t over by any means.
DAL 2 @ CGY 0 (Series Tied 1-1)
Playoff Pavs gets us started. 👏
📺 @BallySportsSW | #OneStateOneTeam pic.twitter.com/UxbNLGndET
— x – Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) May 6, 2022
Low-scoring as predicted as was the winner. Calgary is overrated as much as Dallas’ goaltending is underrated. This is a bit of a formality between these two teams, it really doesn’t matter who wins this round because they won’t make it to the finals. They get some enjoyment knowing that they play the winner of EDM/LA and not one of the two other matchups.
PICKS for Saturday
FLA ML (-185)
COL/NASH Under 6.5 (+100)
NYR ML (-118) and Under 6 (-115)
DAL ML (+140) and Under 5.5 (-128)
OVERALL RECORD (14-14)
NET -$175
Friday (3-4) -$118
CAR ML (L) -$100, CAR -PL (L) -$100, TB ML (L) -$110, TB/TOR Over 6.5 (W) +$102,
STL ML (L) -$110, STL/MIN Over 5.5 (W) +$100, EDM ML (W) +$100
