Quote:
Originally Posted by Infinit47
High danger chanceslast night were even, scoring chances were even. Markstrom let in one more goal than Smith (if you don't count the obvious goal that was called back).
If McDavid scored on the play driving the net like Backlund (leading to Coleman goal) people would be singing praises of how great it was and how unstoppable it was as he cut to the net and elevated the puck.
The numbers clearly show that Mike Smith made more hard saves than Markstrom over these playoffs. He had some epic gaffes, but so did Markstrom.
There is no universe in which an .852 save percentage is acceptable.
Markstrom wasn't the only problem for sure, but it wasn't hard to see how differently the Flames played after he completely melted down in game 1. If you want to talk about bad goals that is the game if his to look at. No pressure with a huge lead and he could keep his glove up.
He looked beyond rattled and times and I think that is what shook the mentally weak rest of the team.
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The numbers show nothing about the save difficulty. How many 3 on 1s and breakaways? How many freak bounces to wide open guys at the side of the net?
Markstrom didn’t win the series or steal a game. But IMO he was still better than Mike Smith, who just wasn’t worked side to side at all.