Great goaltending and playoff wins go hand in hand

Jaroslav Halak put together 3 terrific games to bring the Canadiens back from the dead in their series against the Washington Capitials. His save percentage in those three games was a sizzling .978 and overall in the playoffs it is .924 despite the blow out in Game 1 against the Penguins.

The history of the NHL playoffs has many goaltending heroes.

Ken Dryden made his NHL debut in 1971 for the Canadiens, playing only six regular-season games after a late-season call-up but sporting a minuscule 1.65 goals-against average. This earned him the number 1 goalie job for the playoffs ahead of veteran All-Star Rogie Vachon, and the Canadiens rode their hot young goalie to win the Stanley Cup.  That was actually a strong Canadiens team and we will never know, of course, whether Vachon would have had the same success had he started in the playoffs.

In the 1993 playoffs, after the Canadiens lost their first two games to their archrival Quebec Nordiques in the first round series, a newspaper in Patrick Roy's hometown district and suggested that he be traded. Nordiques goaltending coach Dan Bouchard also proclaimed that his team had solved Roy. These comments seemed to fire up Roy, who responded by winning the next four games against the Nordiques, sweeping the Buffalo Sabres in the next round, and winning the first three against the New York Islanders to complete an eleven post-season game winning streak. Roy set a record during the post-season with 10 straight overtime wins, won the Stanley Cup, and was once again the Conn Smythe Trophy winner. He finished with a 16-4 record overall, a 2.13 GAA and .929 save percentage,

Arturs Irbe's NHL career began in 1991 with the San Jose Sharks. With Irbe between the pipes, the newly established Sharks made their first playoff appearance in the 1993–94 season and upset the top-seeded Detroit Red Wings. That season, Irbe played an NHL record 4412 minutes between the pipes for the Sharks and was nicknamed "The Wall."

Curtis Joseph developed quite the reputation early in his career as a playoff goalie although he never was on a Cup winning team. In 1997 the Edmonton Oilers upset the nuumber 2 team in the league, the Dallas Stars, on the goaltending of Joseph. They did it again in 1998 to a powerful Colorado Avalanche team that was anchored by Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic at their prime. Joseph shutout the Avalanche in Game 7 to take that series. The Leafs signed Joseph as a free agent as a result of his playoff heroics. In 2000, 2001 and 2002, the Leafs upset a very strong Ottawa Senators team because the Senators just could not beat Joseph. His save percentage over those three playoff runs was .932.

In 2003 Jean-Sebastian Giguere took the 7th seeded Anaheim Ducks to the Stanley Cup Finals where they eventually lost to the New Jersey Devils. He finished with a 15-6 record overall, a 1.62 GAA and .945 save percentage, as well as fewer losses than his Finals counterpart Martin Brodeur. He was the fifth player to receive the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP as part of the losing team.