NASHVILLE – The National Goaltending League, Paul Maurice called this crazy circuit that shocks and thrills and breaks hearts at every turn.
So, we could discuss the Winnipeg Jets’ superior puck battling the first time their season was on the brink. We could write (again) about the brilliance of Mark Scheifele, the do-it-all centreman with a record seven road goals. Or Paul Stastny, the best trade deadline pickup, and his 14 playoff points. Or the yeomen’s work of the Jets’ bottom six and a nasty, skilled defence that is gaining more respect by the day.
But the puck always stops with the men weighed down by the most pressure and the most equipment.
“Over the course of 82, if you have a guy who has a real good night and a guy who doesn’t, you can pretty much predict the winner on that,” Maurice said.
“You had lots of chances but didn’t score it? The other goaltender was probably pretty good. You think you played really, really well but you had a couple of breakdowns that were in the back of your net? It’s all about goaltending anyway. It always has been.”
The series that killed home-ice advantage was decided — early — by one Vezina finalist who was dialed in, and one who was less so.
The most predictable element of this spring’s most unpredictable series was the importance of scoring first, but who knew it would look so ugly?
Tyler Myers was behind the goal line when he threw a seemingly harmless puck at Pekka Rinne’s crease, but it clicked off the Finn’s blade, sneaking in short side and sucking the energy out of a building that had gotten all riled up by a singing Sheryl Crow, a towel-waving Eddie George and a couple flying catfish.
“The first goal is huge. It probably got us the second goal. Because the first goal was a bad angle, and they’ll always follow what they see,” Maurice said.
Sensing shakiness, Stastny hunted a loose puck in the Predators’ end and drove back to Rinne’s crease, whacking it twice in tight until in fluttered in.
“You got to be good to be lucky,” Scheifele said. “Clearly our shooters saw something and we capitalized when we could.”
Only 10:47 and seven shots in, the visitors were up 2-0, Rinne got pulled for the third occasion this series and ended his year with a .848 post-season save percentage in his own building.
“Just the goals, the way they went in, it’s a little bit fluky,” Predators coach Peter Laviolette said.
Rinne’s save percentage fell more than 20 points (from .927 to .904) once the playoffs hit. Yikes. To think, in six weeks he’ll probably be awarded the Vezina.
The Jets would book their Vegas getaway with a 5-1 victory, scoring twice on backup Juuse Saros and one for good measure into an empty net, but the two hung on Rinne were enough to make history — and misery.
In the bitter aftermath, the Presidents’ Trophy room was a funeral of thousand-yard stares and lumped throats. Roman Josi’s eyes were red and wet. Nick Bonino studied a game sheet that wouldn’t change. Someone kicked a garbage can. Silence, save for the occasional screech of sock tape getting pulled off.
“Two terrible goals at the wrong time,” Rinne said. “I feel very much responsible for our season ending at this point. Tough to swallow, tough to understand. I can’t point out anything. Felt good, and no injuries and totally healthy. But total ups and downs throughout the playoffs. The biggest moment of the season, it’s a terrible feeling. You let your teammates down.”
Ryan Ellis said Rinne needed his teammates to pick him up. Josi called Rinne “our best player all year.” P.K. Subban, who scored the Preds’ lone goal, another wicked power-play one-timer, went a step further.
The Predators room has been described as a family, and you stick up for family.
“Listen to me. Critics who want to criticize him don’t know what they’re talking about. I don’t care if they played in the NHL or not. He’s the backbone of our hockey club, and he’s one of the main reasons we’re here.
“I’m sick and tired of people always talking about him. He’s the backbone of this team. You talk about top goaltenders in the league, it’s him, it’s [Carey] Price, it’s [Andrei] Vasilevskiy, it’s [Connor Hellebuyck], it’s these guys. You’re lucky to have one of them.”
The Jets have one of them, too.
Hellebuyck publicly defended Rinne after his opponent’s first pull. On Thursday, he described Rinne’s early departure as “heartbreaking.”
Hellebuyck is only 24 but already he’s learned some tough lessons and endured his share of pullings. He began the season as Steve Mason’s backup, and here he was stoning Kyle Turris on a nifty backhander in the slot and turning away Kevin Fiala after a between-the-legs dangle in a 36-save performance. He wrapped the series with a .929 save percentage.
“A year in a goalie’s life makes such a big difference,” Maurice said. “In the third period, I think he had one bobbled puck that got away from him, but everything else after that he was knocking it to the corner, he was clearing the front. He looked calm.”
The National Goaltending League comes down to Hellebuyck, Vasilevskiy, Braden Holtby and Marc-Andre Fleury. Two 2018 Vezina finalists, the reigning Vezina champion, and a three-time Cup winner.
On the outside is Rinne.
The soul of the Predators and the club’s longest-tenured member has just one more season and $7 million remaining on his deal. He’s eligible for an extension on July 1, but those nasty critics will start wondering when it’s time to move on from the 35-year-old. They’ll drag up his struggles in Pittsburgh a year ago when it mattered.
Laviolette went around the room and gave Rinne a quick hug after the loss.
“This isn’t about Peks. Like I said, it was some tough bounces and you become limited with what you can do to try and change the game,” said Laviolette, who believed it was too early to burn a timeout in the first period.
“He shouldn’t talk about things like that on his own. This is on all of us. It was a series that we wanted to move forward on. We ran into a good team, and they’re moving on.”
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