I love Quick (think he deserves the Vezina) and I think he'll really shine in round 2, but I don't personally believe he was tested quite as much against Vancouver as some people seem to think. He faced a lot of low percentage perimeter shots.
Smith. Blackhawks peppered him with shots all throughout the series and he's had to come up with some incredible saves. I would give Quick the nod after that.
Quick and Smith pretty much were the key contributor to their series. While Rinne was his old self, Nashville's team defense was a bigger problem for the Wings. (I do see Rinne being the key player in the later rounds though)
Holtby should also be up there. He is the biggest reason why Washington is still in the race to knock Bruins out.
Anderson and Hank have been really good in their series. A lot to do with the reason the series is 3-3.
Quick has been the best tendy so far. Rinne has been the next best IMO. San Jose didn't pose much of a threat to STL, while Detroit controlled a lot of the games in the series and Rinne was unreal in Detroit.
Despite the 10 goal game, Bryzgalov played well in the defense-less Pitt/Phi series. He's a big reason they advanced as well, even with Giroux putting up 14 points.
Remember Elliott came in cold in Game 2 and won 4 straight (officially 3) with a 1.37 GAA and a .949 Save pct...gave up only 5 goals whilst seeing 98 shots in 4 games-ish
Remember Elliott came in cold in Game 2 and won 4 straight (officially 3) with a 1.37 GAA and a .949 Save pct...gave up only 5 goals whilst seeing 98 shots in 4 games-ish
I know...i am bathing in the Blues kool aid again
elliot also has the best defensive team in the league in front of him.
It was Smith IMO.
For those saying Quick, he was good but I think he's getting overrated in the sense that people seem to think he was amazing in this series. LA plays a great system and their defense did a terrific job of limiting quality shots and the Canucks really sucked at testing him by putting traffic in front of the net and going to the dirty areas. Quick really wasn't anything special in this series. He didn't need to be.
And don't take offense in that I'm saying he wasn't anything special. He was still solid and made every save he needed to. Just not amazing like I've been hearing and seeing for the past week. Mostly because he didn't have to be.
personally quick stood out more than anybody else i saw, especially in the first few games. seems like smith had to deal with less shots, but when they came he was huge, for the most part. tough between these two, but i'd have to put it on quick. rinne is always a beast. i have to admit i didn't see much of this series, but from what i did see he came up huge.
lundqvist(homer in me) had a ton of incredible sequence saves, but also has a defensive team in front of him that kept games alive. (like 50 blocked shots a few games ago?) same reason he's not up top-- defensive team puts less onus on him.
fleury, luongo, brodeur, thomas, bryz(g1/2)... all sucked.
whoever said anderson was good, imo it's the same problem that the above guy said about quick-- not challenged enough. he did fine with the belly shots, but let almost every tough shot in. no slight at him, his positioning is always great and he absorbs everything.
holtby stood out this series to me. his positioning has been great for a kid. he's got potential in his career.
Quick made some great saves, especially in game 5, but he wasn't tested regularly against he Canucks. The Kings kept a lot of pressure on the Canucks and didn't let up too many stellar quality chances. He kept the game close in game 4 and stole the show in game 5, however.
I'd still put him at the top though. Smith has been great, but he has been anything BUT clutch when they needed him the most (less than one minute to go).
