GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators @ Calgary Flames - 9:30PM EST, Thursday, March 11, 2010

N4L wrote:Playoffs

21 W
20 L
926 save %
1.77 GAA

Not only is that more then respectable, that's as good as it gets in terms of individual numbers for a goaltender. Any guesses who that is?

Best goalie we've had up to this point: Patty Lalime!!!!

Exxxxxactly, the only numbers that matter when it comes to goaltending are W's and L's. Doesnt matter how you get the job done, as long as you get it done.

What was wrong with Patty Lalime? There's no way he could have come back after that series against the Leafs, but he was absolutly a stellar goaltender who stole many playoff games for us

He was, I agree 100% but the fact remains that he will go down as the goaltender who couldnt get it done for The Sens. Numbers aside or how many games he might have stolen, the fact remains his legacy in Ottawa will be as a guy who just never had the ability to win the big game for Ottawa.

N4L wrote:He was, I agree 100% but the fact remains that he will go down as the goaltender who couldnt get it done for The Sens. Numbers aside or how many games he might have stolen, the fact remains his legacy in Ottawa will be as a guy who just never had the ability to win the big game for Ottawa.

Which is quite unfair.

My point is that this guy put up the best numbers, along with the fact that some years he got the Sens to where they went (sometimes with no help from the guys in front of him).

It's not always about wins/losses. And in the case of a guy like Lalime or Price it's unfair to make that assessment.

That's the thing, all that matters are results. No one remembers the losers.

The best find ways to win games. If Roy let in 3 weak goals and stopped everythign else when it mattered, all you remember is Roy being able to find a way to pull it out. Most people call that battling and finding a way to come through.

If Lalime stopped every single shot up until the 3rd where a weak one squeeked by, people will say he choked or the pressure got to him. There is defently something to that.

Anyways, this is all about Elliott vs Price or Halak vs Price, 2 of the guys find ways to win games for their teams despite how the team plays in front of them, Price is finding ways to lose them.

I tend to agree, but only to a certain extent. It reaches a point where the team has to step up and actually play hard for the goalie.

I think if Price was out of Montreal he would be considerably better than the other two guys, but at this point it's only a hypothetical.

Im not a big fan of Price for the simple reason the guy is an idiot off the ice (20 years old in MTL was a disaster to begin with, not toally his fault) and his ability to battle and fight through on the ice is awful. The guy lets in bad goals at bad times and doesnt seem to make the big saves at the right times.

You find the goaltenders who do have the ability to fight through traffic, can stay on their game with a little contact in the crease, and just generally dont let things bother them. Elliott is a perfect example of that.

There are a lot of goaltenders that come out of college and become real solid players. A big reason for this is the maturing process that goes on through their early 20's and goaltenders need that because of the position they play. Jr goaltenders that get pushed through very rarely have steller careers. There are those that are a teams last option like Roy or Ward and end up making names for themselves but neither of those guys were supposed to be prodigies.

You can name off a lot of guys who were taken in the 1st round and turned into nothing more then at best, average goaltenders. The only 2 guys that I can think of that have been great goaltenders for a long time that were taken in the 1st round were Luongo and Brodure and Brodure took 3, 4 years to really make an impact, his maturing happened in The AHL. Luongo, well he's a special case.

Look how long it took Dipeitro to get to The NHL, they tried to force him in there and it set him back. Aside from Injuries I would very much say Price is headed down that path but there is no way they take a step back with him, that's like saying they made a mistake.

Using The FLurry arguement might be valid if The Habs had Crosby and Malkin coming but they defently have nothing near it.

stempniaksen wrote:I tend to agree, but only to a certain extent. It reaches a point where the team has to step up and actually play hard for the goalie.

I think if Price was out of Montreal he would be considerably better than the other two guys, but at this point it's only a hypothetical.

In that way, though, it's alot like coaching. You can fire one coach a lot easier than you can fire 23 players. Simimlarly you can change *one* goalie rather than 22 players.

Fact is, part of what makes a goalie great is how the team plays in front of him. Maybe they like Halak better; maybe they are more confident with him there (because of what's happened with Price in the past); maybe he looks unbeatable in practice whereas the other guy looks disinterested.

If the team plays better for Halak, then maybe -- just maybe -- that, too, is on the goalie to some extent.

A goalie has to give a team confidence, 100% correct. You are seeing that with Ottawa. They know if there is a break down Elliott will more then likely stop it, they dont play that way in front of Leclaire right now. Same in Montreal.

I suppose it goes without saying that while sutton "could" be viewed as insurance in regards to a-train negotiations, fact is he may choose to stay. Plus I have to whole-heaterdly agree with the previous poster's bang-on assessment: karlsson +sutton=sick !!

N4L wrote:A goalie has to give a team confidence, 100% correct. You are seeing that with Ottawa. They know if there is a break down Elliott will more then likely stop it, they dont play that way in front of Leclaire right now. Same in Montreal.

Exactly! It is strange as it has been said pascal is well-liked by his fellow sens, but yet they don't give the 200% they do in front of Elliott...

Cronie wrote:

N4L wrote:A goalie has to give a team confidence, 100% correct. You are seeing that with Ottawa. They know if there is a break down Elliott will more then likely stop it, they dont play that way in front of Leclaire right now. Same in Montreal.

Exactly! It is strange as it has been said pascal is well-liked by his fellow sens, but yet they don't give the 200% they do in front of Elliott...

Congrats on your 3000th post!!! This is some site you and Spez and Clutch (apologies if I missed any) have put together.

Cronie wrote:

N4L wrote:A goalie has to give a team confidence, 100% correct. You are seeing that with Ottawa. They know if there is a break down Elliott will more then likely stop it, they dont play that way in front of Leclaire right now. Same in Montreal.

Exactly! It is strange as it has been said pascal is well-liked by his fellow sens, but yet they don't give the 200% they do in front of Elliott...

Good to see you here Cronie! It feels like it's been a while!

Dash wrote:Congrats on your 3000th post!!! This is some site you and Spez and Clutch (apologies if I missed any) have put together.

Of the originals? It was also Jamvan at the beginning, but yeah, I love this site, always someone on for a chat. I'd say like...90% of the time from the AM to past midnight. It's great!

Game on!

I guess not Darn you Spezza! Another 10-15 minutes, means I'll have to pad the recording until 12:45.

N4L, when did Elliott ever wear black pads?