The glaring double-standard in the hockey world; Leafs' goaltending criticized constantly, while rival goalies' playoff stats look like this:
In what has become a customary and almost mandatory report heading into the playoffs, the Leafs' goaltending is always brought into question and is always treated as lesser than their opponent. To an extent, it is a fair comparison because the Leafs don't have and will probably never have a Carey Price or Andrei Vasilevskiy between the pipes, but the Leafs don't need a superstar goalie to win a series. Their goalies just need to be average to good and give them the timely saves, which is what the biggest issue has been in years past.
While everyone is praising how good the Bruins are and how good their goaltending has been during the season, the last time a team ran away with the President's Trophy and topped the league the way Boston is expected to was a few years ago when Tampa had first place locked up by Christmas. What happened next? They were swept in the first round by the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets because they had nothing to play for the second half of the season and they seemingly felt they had a free ride to the Cup Final. They were swept with Vasilevskiy between the pipes, who is in a class of his own when it comes to playoff performances.
Heading into the playoffs, the Bruins have a 31-year-old, unproven Linus Ullmark who has played 2 playoff games and a 24-year-old Jeremy Swayman who has played just 6. In his 2 games, Ullmark has been horrendeous, posting a 4.16GAA and a .860 save percentage while Swayman has a 2.67GAA and a decent .906 save percentage.
In comparison, let's take a look at Ilya Samsonov and Matt Murray in the playoffs. Samsonov, at 25, has played 8 games and has posted a 2.98GAA and a save percentage of .907. Murray on the other hand, at 28, and with 2 Stanley Cups has posted a 2.18GAA and a ridiculous .921 save percentage. If you ask me, the Bruins should have more questions raised about their goalies' playoff success than the Leafs.
| POLL | ||
JANVIER 25 | 208 ANSWERS The glaring double-standard in the hockey world; Leafs' goaltending criticized constantly, while rival goalies' playoff stats look like this: Who has the better tandem going into the playoffs? | ||
| Bruins | 85 | 40.9 % |
| Leafs | 86 | 41.3 % |
| The defense makes all 4 goalies look better | 37 | 17.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
