The Battle of the Goalies
Much has been written about the netminders in this series, and it should be a focus. Dominik Hasek has been one of the dominant goaltenders over the past decade. Miikka Kiprusoff carried the Flames on his back en route to a Stanley Cup Finals appearance in 2004, much like Hasek did for Buffalo in 1999.
Since the beginning of March, Kiprusoff has played in 15 games for Calgary while Hasek has been in net for 8 games over the same time period. Here is each netminder’s record and key stats over that timespan.
Mikka Kiprusoff
9-6-1
2.77 GAA
0.908 SV%
Dominik Hasek
5-3-2
2.06 GAA
0.919 SV%
Both the Flames and the Red Wings have offenses that rank in the top 10 in the NHL in goals scored. So it makes sense to look a little closer at the statistics and see how each goaltender has done when they have gone up against some of the top offenses in the league since the beginning of March.
Goaltending against Top 10 offenses
Mikkaa Kiprusoff
2-4
3.40 GAA
0.910 SV%
Dominik Hasek
2-1
1.34 GAA
0.948 SV%
Kipper has appeared in twice as many games against top offenses as Hasek has. But that is due to Hasek splitting time in net with Chris Osgood. Osgood has also done surprisingly well against top 10 offenses.
Chris Osgood
3-0-1
2.42 GAA
0.909 SV%
I think the stats show what most people undestand to be the case: Calgary has become more focused on offense and as a result Kipper is facing a lot of vulcanized rubber. Detroit has adopted a more defense-oriented approach, so much so that on the surface Chris Osgood appears on paper to be as effective in net as Kiprusoff has been against the best offenses.
Detroit has also been a team that plays hard against good opponents but mails it in against lesser competition. That can result in embarrassing defeats like losing to Boston 6-3 and Philadelphia 6-1.
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