Sometimes stats are revealing. Sometimes they’re just numbers. What, then, to make of this? Eight goalies played more than 4,000 minutes in the NHL this season. If the first-round series end up the way they’re leaning right now — Chicago over Nashville, Vancouver over the Kings, Detroit over Phoenix, Washington over Montreal, Boston over Buffalo — only ONE of those goalies (San Jose’s Evgeni Nabokov) will advance to the second round. Here’s a look at this season’s top eight in minutes, with their postseason fates…
1. Martin Broduer, New Jersey (4,499:01) — Lost in first round.
2. Jonathan Quick, Kings (4,258:27) — Losing 3-2 in first round.
3. Craig Anderson, Colorado (4,235:21) — Lost in first round.
4. Miikka Kiprusoff, Calgary (4,235:19) — Missed playoffs.
5. Henrik Lundqvist, NY Rangers (4,203:49) — Missed playoffs.
6. Evgeni Nabokov, San Jose (4,194:07) — Won in first round.
7. Ilya Bryzgalov, Phoenix (4,084:07) — Losing 3-2 in first round.
8. Ryan Miller, Buffalo (4,047:10) — Losing 3-2 in first round.
That’s not to say that those goalies are entirely — or even mostly — to blame for the teams’ fates, but isn’t it interesting? Which goalies made it out of the first round, or are leading their series? Here they are, with minutes played and rank in the regular season…
6. Evgeni Nabokov, San Jose (4,194:07)
9. Roberto Luongo, Vancouver (3,899:24)
10. Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh (3,798:17)
11. Jimmy Howard, Detroit (3,740:15)
28. Tuukka Rask, Boston (2,562:11)
34. Antti Niemi, Chicago (2,109:28)
39. Brian Boucher, Philadelphia (1,742:02)
44. Semyon Varlamov, Washington (1,527:26)
Right now, all those minutes were just a warmup for game 6.
Showtime Jon. Knock ‘em dead.
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ahhhhhh….
just what a Kings Junkie needs.
thanks for all the hard work Rich
GO KINGS GO!
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The KINGS can do it! They needed that loss to come out sunday and seek and DESTROY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Love your hard work Rich, keep it coming.
Not buying this one however. Don’t think it means a thing personally.
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Interesting! Thanks as always! Now as for… um, today I guess, I know we can force a game 7!
Frack bringing your “A” game! Bring … um.. whatever is better than an A+ game. I hope Quick has a great bounce back game!
Don’t want to quote Airplane, but I must for Quick and EE, “I just want to wish you both good luck, we’re all counting on you”
(what are you willing to bet someone would have quoted Jaws “we need a bigger boat” if I didn’t put this part in? Granted one will do it anyway now.)
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Do you think Marleau, Torres, Foster would sign with the Kings?
I can see the Lines next year already…
Marleau Kopitar Simmonds
Smyth Handzus Brown
Torres Loktionov Modin
Richardson Stoll Parse
Bring back Modin, let go of Frolov and Halpern. Trade Williams and Moller for draft picks.
Defense.
Doughty Scuderi
Greene Johnson
Hickey Foster
7th man – Drewiskie
Dump Jones, O’Donnell, and Harrold. Foster is the hidden gem in this years UFA’s
Goalies.
Bernier
Quick
Ersberg should of been gone along time ago. Zatkoff and Jones are ready to run Manchester.
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I believe. 5-3 Kings and game 7 on Tuesday. Leave it all on the ice. Pressure is all on Vancouver for these next two games. Espcially if we force a game 7. Have fun. Play your game. Shoot the puck. Good things and victories will come for the Kings. GO KINGS GO!
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Don’t thinj it will be anything like that next year for us KINGS
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It has been about building depth for the Kings, and next year will be an even better season. Not that I don’t believe the Kings can win two in a row to win this series. I suspect a top free agent and several prospects upgrading this team will push for best record and the cup next year.
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So many of us were already concerned about Quick playing too many games weeks ago. Thanks for the confirming stats, Rich.
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@brad
I like it. Marleau would be killer. all of your other calls are bang on.
I would love to see us get L. Schenn from Toronto, we need another d man who can punish the other team, (may be awhile for tuebert). Toronto wont let him go easy but there has to be a trade there somewhere. lets avoid kovalchuk, the guy is locker room cancer.
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I prefer to focus on the matchup against San Jose in the second round.
It ain’t over!
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Pride=Passion=Power=Playoffs
Kings, all of the above. It’s all true. Heck of a season so far. Let’s get it done tonight!
I had to watch that video again on the entry page, Bob Miller, I love that guy. I am so ready for this game.
Go Kings Go!
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You might have something here…
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Rich, show this to TM so they will hopefully call up Bernier for game 7!
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What I make of that is: I told you so. The one guy who escaped the first round (Nabokov), routinely craps out in the first round, even though it didn’t happen this time. Every year, people comment that he was exhausted.
It’s not Quick’s fault the Kings didn’t have a back-up Murray had confidence in. That should have been addressed in November, when Ersberg stumbled.
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Just another reason to bring up the Bernier!
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How come nobody brings up the minutes Doughty puts up night after night for 2 straight years?
He shows no effect from the minutes he’s playing.
To me, it’s an excuse. Sorry, there are no excuses at this time of the year.
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Doughty gets breaks. Quick is on the ice staying focused the whole time. Over time you lose focus because you’ve been working extra hard.
Doughty faced those mins. last year and is doing the same this year.
This is Quicks first time facing this many minutes.
For example, imagine now business is booming in your job. They ask you to start working 55 hours a week every week for the rest of the year. Your going to want a break or you’ll be burnt out and not want to do the job anymore. You won’t be as sharp as when you were doing below 40 hours a week.
So yes mins do make a difference!
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@Brad
That is the softest group of forwards I have ever seen. Are you watching this series? You can’t win with being soft. When are people going to relize that, have 4 lines of scoring players is not how a NHL team should be built,
I hope Clifford, Westgarth, and Clune are all on the team next year. Very happy Brad doesn’t have a say in the players on the roster, we would get ran over by any team.
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As game time draws closer, all I have to say is…
Lord, hear our prayer…and let us kick butt today!
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I’m with NYKingfan on this one.
Beautiful day here and the Kings are about to spank em for two straight games.
Nice.
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I don’t think Neil Young’s musical lyrics apply here…”It’s better to burn out than to fade away.”
Quick is clearly gassed. Rich, do you have any stats on his previous numbers from the AHL & ECHL? I would doubt that he played anywhere near 4,258 minutes in a single season.
I put the blame for this squarely on Terry Murray. You would think as much as TM shuffles the forward lines that he could have mixed Ersberg into the starting lineup a little more.
Earlier this season, the Kings played 13 games in 23 nights (11-25 thru 12-17). Quick started 12 of those games!
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Quick s not tired ,his positioning is just plain OFF! When the Kings tied the game on Hanzus PP goal , the momentum had shifted over to LA again , the crowd was quiet ,Vancouver was all depressed again on givin up a powerplay goal again, yup , things were looking great for the Kings indeed! Then , it happened,bad angle shot went in , as they have been goin in a lot on Quick ,and please ,u KNO i m right ,Boom, deflated the whole teams , as bad goals tend to do!! The Sedin wraparound was even worse , as Quick lost his balance on the rebound, all he has to do is keep his position near the post and that puck can t get in,but falls like a drunken sailor!!U think he would learn that Sammy keeps goin top shelf , but for some reason , NOPE!! I m not an hater , i just kno what i see , a goalie that JUSTdoesn t have it anymore , plain and simple……
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As Ralph Kiner says, “Statistics are like a womens bikini. They show you a lot, but not everything”.
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A very telling statistic. I’ve often wondered if Quick may have been overplayed, considering his decline towards the end of the season. Thanks for putting this together, Rich. Let’s hope that the Kings can make it pass the 1st round. If not, I hope, the coaching staff consider beefing up the Kings’ goaltender situation by acquiring another top notch goaltender.
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@Golddust…That is your opinion.I do not agree.It is a team effort.Some of the goals you mentioned were not all Quicks fault.
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we overplayed quickie. esberg would of played better the other day if he had more experience…
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Goals not all Quicks fault…but saves need to be made on a consistent basis to advance. Luongo made saves that had they gone in, everyone would be saying “well they were quality scoring chances”…but he saved them…thats a playoff goalie.
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interesting post,b ut can you post their sv% and gaa stats as well? Also, maybe how many times they were pulled or any other seemingly important factors in this post?
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It is my opinion..that s what blogs are for! The three goals i mentioned were his fault !!Again my opinion..If Sammy scores top shelf again tonight in my opinion , the guy is absolutely clueless ,in my OPINION!!!
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THanks for the hard work all year Rich!
Unlike most above, I think there may be something to those stats…at least there’s a possibility!
But the issue at hand for us as Kings fans is whether those minutes have affected Quick. IMO they have. The only other explanation for his poor performance in the last two games would be that he is just not a very good goaltender…that he can’t stop any shots high glove side or blocker side. It’s very possible that Vancouver figured out that he can’t stop them.
I guess we’ll find out tonight because they will certainly continue to blast away to the upper part of the net. Many of the goals he allowed were in and out of the net before he seemed to realize a shot had been taken.
So, if he’s a good goalie (and IMO he is), the only other explanation is that he is mentally exhausted. He just doesn’t seem to have a clue on many of them and his concentration and focus, which came into question many times toward the end of the season, just weren’t there. I think it’s quite likely because he is in fact tired.
About 2/3 through the season TM was asked if Quick could keep up the pace of playing excellent in the net game after game after game…even in back to back games several times. TM’s answer was “We’ll find out”! Well, I guess he has his answer.
I was continuously stating that TM should give EE some games toward the end of the year because they insisted that Bernier wouldn’t play in the playoffs. He didn’t…so now EE has absolutely no chance of having any kind of timing as a backup.
So, Quick it is…win or lose! He had a great year…but to keep saying he’s not tired means that he’s not as good as everyone thought and I don’t think that’s the case. So, the question of whether he was burned up during the year will be the subject of many discussions in the off-season…there have already been several commentators and analysts that mentioned fatigue as a possibility in assessing Quicks faltering game.
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Well, Luongo will not make it out of the 1st round!
GO KINGS GO
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Probably Quick’s range of maximum games he can play in a season is 60-65. After that, the load of more games accelerates the fatigue. He was starting to get tired before the Olympic break. Then on top of it, the Olympic break with too many games off made him rusty!
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Quick VS Bernier
game 5
26 shots, 21 sv, 5 GA, .808 SV%
game 4
36 shots, 31 sv, 5 GA, .861 SV%
game 3
28 shots, 25 sv, 3 GA, .893 SV%
game 2
26 shots, 24 sv, 2 GA, .923 SV%
game 1
44 shots, 41 SV, 3 GA, .932 SV%
J. Bernier(W, 1-0) (dallas) shots 30, SV 29, GA 1, SV% .967
J. Bernier(W, 2-0) (Nashville) shots 34, SV 34, GA 0, SV% 1.000
J. Bernier(W, 3-0) (canucks) shots 30, SV 27, GA 3, SV% .900
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Six of the eight made the playoffs. Two who did make the playoffs are out. The others are still playing. A little early for such a post isn’t it?
Why don’t you just come out and say that Bernier should have been here. You seemed to have wanted that most of the year with the tone of some of your other posts.
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