Yeah -- defense absolutely does affect goaltending, mentally, in terms of confidence, but also in decision-making, in what the goalie can and can't trust his D to do. Lundqvist's deteriorating performance in the first round imo was mostly the result of the failure of the Rangers' defense. And Jones has had nights where he's let in tons of goals due to the failure of his D more than his own performance. And all that makes Vasilevsky's performance behind Tampa's D all the more impressive.
Re: SCF Predictions Thread
Yeah -- defense absolutely does affect goaltending, mentally, in terms of confidence, but also in decision-making, in what the goalie can and can't trust his D to do. Lundqvist's deteriorating performance in the first round imo was mostly the result of the failure of the Rangers' defense. And Jones has had nights where he's let in tons of goals due to the failure of his D more than his own performance. And all that makes Vasilevsky's performance behind Tampa's D all the more impressive.