Behind The Net
Goaltending Questions Throughout The East

Now that it's April, the language of hockey will slide easily back into those familiar ruts along the bumpy, emotional road known as the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Fans will laud players who take a hit to make a play.

They will console themselves after losses because they know there's a lot of character in the room.

They will exhort their team to leave it all on the ice.

They will cite chapter and verse on the importance of playing 60 minutes.

And they will tell anyone within earshot that goaltending and special teams win playoff games.

That last phrase became a cliché the hard way - by capturing what for decades on end has been an undeniable truth. Once the playoffs begin, the game is more difficult and challenging all the way around, but nothing becomes more difficult than scoring goals.

Players check more closely, get in shooting lanes more frequently, pick up defensive coverages more religiously and block more shots. In that environment, even average goaltending will keep teams in games, but average goaltending is rarely good enough to win a series.

Only the best goaltenders succeed over the two-month run of the Stanley Cup playoffs, because they take every breath in a world where their margin for error has been significantly reduced and where, once the clock ticks into overtime, they are frequently the difference between agony and ecstasy.

Which brings us to the 2008 Eastern Conference playoffs, where outside of the expected brilliance of New Jersey's Martin Brodeur, there appears to be nothing but goaltending questions.

In Ottawa, Ray Emery's off-ice shenanigans almost single-handedly brought down the team during the regular season while Martin Gerber, well, has one playoff victory on his NHL resume.

In New York, the Rangers' Henrik Lundqvist is 2-7 in the playoffs outside of his easy sweep of Atlanta last spring.

Carey Price seems certain to have a long and prosperous NHL career, but he will be under intense pressure in Montreal - especially since that city believes the team is poised for a run to the Finals.

Carolina's Cam Ward has not looked like the same goaltender who guided the Canes to the 2006 Cup, and Boston's Tim Thomas has never played in a Stanley Cup playoff game.

The Penguins?

Marc-Andre Fleury entered the final weeks of the regular season as Michel Therrien's likely choice to start the playoffs after a regular season during which he missed 35 games with an ankle sprain while Ty Conklin was brilliant in his absence. Fleury got his Stanley Cup baptism during a five-game series loss to Ottawa last season, so he knows what lies ahead.

Fleury has had well documented problems in the post-season ever since Team Canada lost the World Junior gold medal game in 2004; he's 5-18 in his last 23 playoff games at the World Junior, QMJHL, AHL and NHL level. If he is indeed the franchise goaltender around whom the Penguins can build a Cup-worthy team, Fleury at 23 should be ready to show he can win games at this time of the season.

Conklin has even less Cup playoff experience than Fleury, having played all of six minutes, but does have a solid body of regular-season work behind him.

Amid the uncertainty that surrounds Pittsburgh's goaltending situation, this much we can be sure about: the most important decisions Therrien will make this spring will be which one he plays night in and night out, and the Penguins' chances of making a long run through a wide-open Eastern Conference field will hinge on the performance of his chosen goaltender.