So, as the Stanley Cup dwindles down to the "Final Four", there are two goalies that were there (or further) from last season, and two more keepers who haven't been there at all. Tampa Bay's Ben Bishop and Anaheim's Fredrik Andersen.
Andersen, from Denmark, is playing in his second NHL season, and his second NHL playoffs. He's gotten much experience from the past two seasons, though. He (And Jonas Hiller) helped Anaheim get to the second round in 2014 before eventually he got hurt and Los Angeles prevailed in seven games. John Gibson took over in net for him after the injury and performed admirably. This season, Gibson played 23 games and went 13-8-0 while Andersen went 35-12-5. Both posted a S% of .914, but the job is clearly Andersen's. And the way he's playing the playoffs so far, it's his to lose.
All he's done is help the Ducks get by Winnipeg in four, then beat Calgary, needing just one more game to do that. A win in game one of the Conference finals vs. Chicago and his playoff record is 9-1 (He was 3-2 last season). The Ducks needed three goalies last year to get to game seven of the second round, but Andersen beat Jonas Hiller and the Flames this year, which must have added an exclamation mark to his status as the go-to goalie. He's also taken great strides in his game. His S% of .930 is sixth best right now.
Tampa Bay finished a strong third in the Eastern Conference, behind Montreal and New York. The looked like they were going to be out early against Detroit in the first round. They kept falling behind. However, they also kept coming back. The Red Wings took game one right there in Tampa. After losing game two, Detroit took game three then led by two goals in a pivotal game four. Tampa came back to win, only to drop game five, which was also pivotal. Now down 3-2, they needed to pull it off in Detroit to send it to seven.
Ben Bishop. Tall. Talented. Imposing. But never having won a playoff series...
Game six in enemy territory was a do-or-die affair, not only for the Lightning, but also for Bishop. He needed this game and would need to be great in game seven. Tampa took a 3-0 lead late into the second period. But they nearly lost it. Detroit scored late in that period and very early in the third. While Tampa scored twice more, this thing was in doubt until the very end, trust me. Bishop turned in a 31-save performance in a game seven shutout. With that, he had won his first ever playoff series. But this series was also his very first postseason experience at NHL level. Not a bad way to win it, eh?
Against Montreal, there were doubters. The Canadians had swept Tampa last season (But Bishop had missed all four games due to injury). The Lightning had swept the season series, but Montreal had Carey Price, who's probably going to be MVP.
Bishop matched him save for save in game one in Montreal. The Lighting took it, 2-1 in overtime. A 6-2 win by Tampa in game two gave Bishop even more confidence. Game three in Tampa went the way of the home team on a last-second goal by Zack Johnson. Montreal was not done and took the next two games, before bowing out 4-1 in game six. Anderson had been brillant all series long sans game five.
New York is obviously a big challenge for Bishop. They finished in first place overall. And to prove that, they handed Bishop and Tampa 2-1 in game one of the Conference Finals. But no one is saying this thing is over. Not with Bishop playing so well.
Bishop has been intimidating shooters, staring them down and daring them to try to hit the corner of the net. Any of the four corners. Against Montreal, they hit the post what seems like a hundred times. Big Ben is a tough goalie to score against. And for good reason: At 6'7, he's the tallest goalie in NHL history!
And right now, he's on the cusp of greatness.
References
Official Site of the National Hockey League | NHL.com. National Hockey League. Web. 17 May 2015. <https://www.nhl.com>
Sports Reference LLC. Hockey-Reference.com - Hockey Statistics and History. Web. http://www.hockey-reference.com/. Web. 17 May 2015
Andersen, from Denmark, is playing in his second NHL season, and his second NHL playoffs. He's gotten much experience from the past two seasons, though. He (And Jonas Hiller) helped Anaheim get to the second round in 2014 before eventually he got hurt and Los Angeles prevailed in seven games. John Gibson took over in net for him after the injury and performed admirably. This season, Gibson played 23 games and went 13-8-0 while Andersen went 35-12-5. Both posted a S% of .914, but the job is clearly Andersen's. And the way he's playing the playoffs so far, it's his to lose.
All he's done is help the Ducks get by Winnipeg in four, then beat Calgary, needing just one more game to do that. A win in game one of the Conference finals vs. Chicago and his playoff record is 9-1 (He was 3-2 last season). The Ducks needed three goalies last year to get to game seven of the second round, but Andersen beat Jonas Hiller and the Flames this year, which must have added an exclamation mark to his status as the go-to goalie. He's also taken great strides in his game. His S% of .930 is sixth best right now.
Tampa Bay finished a strong third in the Eastern Conference, behind Montreal and New York. The looked like they were going to be out early against Detroit in the first round. They kept falling behind. However, they also kept coming back. The Red Wings took game one right there in Tampa. After losing game two, Detroit took game three then led by two goals in a pivotal game four. Tampa came back to win, only to drop game five, which was also pivotal. Now down 3-2, they needed to pull it off in Detroit to send it to seven.
Ben Bishop. Tall. Talented. Imposing. But never having won a playoff series...
Game six in enemy territory was a do-or-die affair, not only for the Lightning, but also for Bishop. He needed this game and would need to be great in game seven. Tampa took a 3-0 lead late into the second period. But they nearly lost it. Detroit scored late in that period and very early in the third. While Tampa scored twice more, this thing was in doubt until the very end, trust me. Bishop turned in a 31-save performance in a game seven shutout. With that, he had won his first ever playoff series. But this series was also his very first postseason experience at NHL level. Not a bad way to win it, eh?
Against Montreal, there were doubters. The Canadians had swept Tampa last season (But Bishop had missed all four games due to injury). The Lightning had swept the season series, but Montreal had Carey Price, who's probably going to be MVP.
Bishop matched him save for save in game one in Montreal. The Lighting took it, 2-1 in overtime. A 6-2 win by Tampa in game two gave Bishop even more confidence. Game three in Tampa went the way of the home team on a last-second goal by Zack Johnson. Montreal was not done and took the next two games, before bowing out 4-1 in game six. Anderson had been brillant all series long sans game five.
New York is obviously a big challenge for Bishop. They finished in first place overall. And to prove that, they handed Bishop and Tampa 2-1 in game one of the Conference Finals. But no one is saying this thing is over. Not with Bishop playing so well.
Bishop has been intimidating shooters, staring them down and daring them to try to hit the corner of the net. Any of the four corners. Against Montreal, they hit the post what seems like a hundred times. Big Ben is a tough goalie to score against. And for good reason: At 6'7, he's the tallest goalie in NHL history!
And right now, he's on the cusp of greatness.
References
Official Site of the National Hockey League | NHL.com. National Hockey League. Web. 17 May 2015. <https://www.nhl.com>
Sports Reference LLC. Hockey-Reference.com - Hockey Statistics and History. Web. http://www.hockey-reference.com/. Web. 17 May 2015
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