Quote:
Originally Posted by GranteedEV
Two of those were scored after Kuemper was removed from the game. Up until that point the story of the game was two goalies having a goalie battle and our goalie winning it. It well could have gone to OT with Kuemper in net the whole game, which really drives home how important strong goaltending is. Put Markstrom in, and we are probably trailing when Keumper leaves the game, and suddenly those rush chances leading to goals 3,4 do not happen due to the opponent going into a 1-3-1
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Yes, Vladar played a really good game. He played like a quality NHL goalie. Markstrom hasn’t been playing that way. Every good team needs good goaltending.
I think there is something to the theory that the team is playing better in front of Vladar due to confidence in him. They seem to try to shield Markstrom because he’s been so fragile throughout the season. They seem to be more willing to push the puck and take a risk knowing that Vladdy is back there - that can lead to situations where he’ll need to make a highlight save if things don’t work out.