Copy & paste from the other thread...
63 RS starts, 7 starts in round one, 5 starts in round two. While Sutter loves to ride his #1 guy hard in the regular season, he’s got to recognize that it’s a strategy that can backfire. He may have got away with doing it with 26 year old Jonathan Quick, but he didn’t get away with doing it with 32 year old Jacob Markström. Marky just looked burned out in this series. Physically he wasn’t quite himself, and mentally he wasn’t quite himself either. People need to understand that the goaltender position is so much more demanding to play at the highest level than it was 30+ years ago. Workloads need to be managed if you expect the best from your goalie come playoff time. It’s no coincidence that Carey Price “Carey’d” his team to the finals after only making 25 RS starts last season. It’s no coincidence that Kipper went god mode for 26 playoff starts after making only 38 RS starts in ‘03-’04. It’s no coincidence that Quick was able to stay solid in the playoffs after the first cup win after having reduced workloads in the next 2 seasons, ultimately winning another Stanley Cup. It’s no coincidence that Binnington made only 30 starts before the cup run with the Blues. It’s hardly a coincidence that Vasilevskiy only made 52 and 42 starts respectively, prior to the back to back cup runs. You could argue that he’s made 63 starts this season, but remember that he’s only 27 and probably become one of the best goalies to ever play the game.
You might argue that Marky had to start as many games as he did in order to have the division title locked up with 4 games still to go in the RS. However, closer inspection of the schedule shows that this isn’t necessarily the case. There were several games where the Flames won via blowout vs weak/rebuilding teams, where Vladar (a very capable backup) could have won most or all of those games if he was playing instead of Marky.
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