It is one of the truisms of hockey that goaltending is a crucial element of any playoff series.
It鈥檚 no surprise that 16 goaltenders have won the Conn Smythe Trophy as Stanley Cup playoffs MVP, matched only by the 16 centres who have won it. That is compared to nine times by defencemen and eight by wingers.
So it鈥檚 no surprise that goaltenders 鈥� Trent Miner and David Tendeck 鈥� were selected the first stars, respectively, of Games 1 and 3 in the Vancouver Giants鈥� two victories against the Victoria Royals in their best-of-seven Western Hockey League playoff series. Or that Victoria goaltender Griffen Outhouse, despite allowing four goals in the Royals鈥� Game 2 victory, rallied from a soft start to save the contest with some clutch third-period stops.
That has led to a pattern in the series where each time, after the first three games, the losing team has come away saying it deserved a better result on the night.
The Royals, trailing the Giants 2-1 in their Western Conference quarter-final series, will need Outhouse to come up big tonight at 7 p.m. in Game 4 at the Langley Events Centre. The game is being broadcast nationally on Sportsnet360.
鈥淓ach of our players believes we deserved a better fate,鈥� said Victoria coach Dan Price, echoing a familiar refrain, after the 5-1 loss Tuesday in Game 3.
鈥淥ur players are undeterred. The key for us is to stick with it and trust our process and respond like we did in Game 2 [a 5-4 Victoria victory after 2-1 opening-game loss]. The playoffs are all about how you respond after a loss. Everybody on our team is fired up and energized for Game 4.鈥�
They know who they will be facing in the Vancouver crease. Tendeck re-took his starting Giants spot from backup Miner, the hero of Game 1, on Tuesday for Game 3. The Western Conference second-team all-star, and eighth-ranked goaltender for the 2018 NHL draft, missed the first two games of the series and a total of five games to injury. Tendeck made 35 saves in Game 3 in Langley, including a tide-shifting glove save off Dante Hannoun on a two-man Victoria breakaway.
The question for the Royals is: Can the veteran Outhouse respond tonight and steal a game in return for Victoria?
鈥淥ur team has great confidence in Griffen,鈥� said Price.
The Royals can ill afford to fall behind 3-1 in the series. Especially missing their top two centres, Tyler Soy and Tanner Kaspic, and a top-pairing defenceman in Montreal Canadiens third-round draft pick Scott Walford.
The WHL does not release injury reports in the playoffs, but Soy is the only one of the Royals鈥� injured 鈥� including forward Dino Kambeitz 鈥� given much of a chance by Victoria GM Cam Hope to return at some point in the first round.
Price would not comment about the availability of any of the injured players. But if the sa国际传媒 Division second-seed Royals go down to the third-seed Giants, Victoria and its fans will certainly rue the sheer bad luck and inopportune timing of injuries to key players.
鈥淸Other] guys have to step up and do whatever it takes,鈥� said the veteran Victoria forward Hannoun.
As Price said, response is everything in the playoffs. They found one against Miner in Game 2. They will need another tonight against Tendeck.
Game 5 is scheduled for Saturday night at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
ICE CHIPS: Giants defenceman Matt Barberis was handed a one-game suspension by the league for his cross-checking major in Game 3. And Giants blue-liner Darian Skeoch will sit out the third game of his three-game suspension for hit-to-the-head in Game 1.
