Keeping the Goalie Hot
Speaking of being hot, a hot goalie can take you all the way to the Stanley Cup. We saw that with Marc-Andre Fleury and his ragtag bunch of misfit toys, er, NHLers last year.
Well, Colorado Avalanche goalie Philipp Grubauer seems pretty toasty right now. He played all five games against the Calgary Flames. After allowing three goals in the first game against the Flames, he shut them down. Ultimately, he backstopped the Avs to four straight wins with a .939 save percentage and 1.89 GAA total.
On the other end of the ice we’ll have Martin Jones. He… is not hot. He got pulled twice in the series against Vegas. Jones has a .904 save percentage and 3.20 GAA in the playoffs so far.
Grubauer has to stay hot, though. When you have a hot goalie, teams feel a lot more confident, especially about going on the rush and generating offense. That’s Colorado’s bread and butter.