Too many minutes?

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)