Quote:
Originally Posted by powderjunkie
The last team to win the Stanley Cup without a few years of immediate playoff experience were the Carolina Hurricanes (fair to say that was a bit of an unusual year to begin with). The Blackhawks only had one year of playoffs before their first cup, but they won 2 rounds that year.
Before that, it was the '94 New York Rangers, who missed in '93, but had won 2 rds in the prior 4 seasons (they'd actually made playoffs 13/14 years before '93, but of course fewer teams in the league)...
Flames have won 0 out of 4 playoff games in the past 3 seasons. Of course we want to go as far as we can, but it would have been essentially unprecedented for this team to actually win the Cup this year
Sometimes the skaters need to bail out the goalie. Sometimes the goalie needs to bail out the skaters. One or both of these will be lacking when this run ends, but barring a sweep/5 game loss in the first round, this season will be an unequivocal step in the right direction. We can bitch about goaltending if we want, but it's almost certainly not going to be the main thing that costs us a legit 'chance at the cup'.
|
Except last time goaltending was the most direct cause that made the Flames go 0-4 against Anaheim.
If the Flames make it to the cup finals, I'm guessing Rittich will have become hot, and no one would be complaining.
Goaltending is just very important in the playoffs in general.
The only real difference for Nashville, between last year and the year before, was Rinne's goaltending.
Last year the Capitals got lucky that Holtby, despite having a mediocre season, suddenly became hot in the playoffs.
Thomas and Quick basically won their teams cups.
The upgrade from Fleury to Murray was a huge factor in what won the Penguins 2 cups. Although Murray seems to have slowed down a bit since then.
I couldn't disagree with this post more. Whether the Flames are successful will depend on goaltending. I doubt they'll be scoring 5+ goals per game in the playoffs.