Heading into the Stanley Cup playoffs, nothing gives a team more confidence than having a goaltender who is playing at the top of his game. Every player and coach knows they won't be making a deep postseason run if the guy between the pipes isn't locked in.
But goaltending can be hard to predict. There are all sorts of factors that can affect whether a goalie is on his game or not, including (but not limited to) team defense, luck, matchups, special teams and on and on. So how can we tell whether the current crop of playoff goalies will be up to the task?
Last year, the two hottest goalies after March 1 ended up in the Stanley Cup finals. Matt Murray and Martin Jones had the third- and sixth-best save percentages over the final month-and-a-half of the season. In the same time span in 2015, Corey Crawford had second-best save percentage in the league and went on to raise the Cup.
Which goalies should have their clubs flying high and which should be concerned? Let's have a look: