Goalies Owned the First Night of the Stanley Cup Playoffs

You can't win in the NHL playoffs without great goaltending, as the mundane cliches will often remind us. But there may be so many great netminders in this year's edition of the Stanley Cup playoffs that even phenomenal performances in the crease, like Cam Talbot's on Wednesday, won't earn a W.

A slate of Game 1s kicked off the Stanley Cup playoffs on Wednesday and, surprise, it was the netminders who stole the show on a low-scoring night.

Talbot was sensational in an Oilers loss, future Hall of Famers Carey Price and Henrik Lundqvist went toe-to-toe in Montreal, one Cup champion had to replace another in Pittsburgh, and Jake Allen was historically good against the Wild.

The Blues netminder stopped a sensational 51 of 52 shots he faced, with many of them being of the spectacular variety, to help St. Louis take down the Minnesota Wild 2-1 in overtime to steal a 1-0 lead on the road. Allen was just 22.7 seconds away from his first career playoff shutout, before Zach Parise spoiled the party and sent it to OT, where unexpected hero Joel Edmundson would bury the winner to preserve the win for Allen and the Blues.

During a performance that his coach called "phenomenal" and his teammates "unbelievable," Allen's 51 saves were the fourth most in Blues postseason history. Curtis Joseph made 61 stops in the 1993 Norris Division Final against the Toronto Maple Leafs and put up a 57-save effort in the same series, while Ed Staniowski made 54 saves in the 1976 preliminary round.

Tuukka Rask, despite a season of ups and down, proved he was ready to fire it up for the playoffs as the Bruins sealed a late, 2-1 comeback victory over the Senators.

Rask stopped 26 of 27 shots, and was especially huge during a second period in which Boston was outshot 12-0 and gave up several prime scoring chances.

It was supposed to be rookie netminder (and already Stanley Cup champion) Matt Murray between the pipes as the Penguins opened up their first-round series against the Blue Jackets, but after suffering a lower-body injury during warmups, Murray was a last-minute scratch and it was the club's other Cup-winning goaltender, Marc-Andre Fleury, who stopped 31 of 32 shots to lead the Pens to a 3-1 win over Columbus.

Aside from having a couple of the best players in the world in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, the Penguins boast a goaltending tandem that no one else in the league can rival—two Stanley Cup-winning goalies who reached reached the top early in their respective careers, with Murray doing so last year and Fleury helping the Pens win it all in 2009. Looks like the (non) move to keep both No. 1 netminders in Pittsburgh at the deadline, despite swirling rumours of Fleury's potential departure, could pay off in a big way for the defending champs.

In a battle of future Hall of Fame goaltenders who have yet to win a championship, Lundqvist had a slight edge over his counterpart Price as The King stopped all 31 shots thrown at him while shutting out the Canadiens 2-0 in Game 1 at the Bell Centre. It was the 10th playoff shutout of Lundqvist's career in his 116th consecutive postseason start for the Rangers. His 56-career playoff victories lead all active NHL netminders.

At the other end, Price had himself quite a night, as well, making 29 saves including several big ones. His team couldn't put any in for him, though, prompting Price to praise his counterpart after the game, calling Lundqvist's performance "outstanding."

The Oilers may have dropped a tough one to the Sharks in the opener of their first playoff game since 2006, but Talbot was sensational in making 41 saves while giving the young Oilers every chance to win. Despite building a 2-0 lead in the first period, Edmonton was outshot 44-19 overall, 18-3 in the third period, and 6-2 in overtime.

The young and inexperienced Oilers were outmatched and outworked by a (literally) grey-bearded Sharks club, but Talbot was there to hold the fort down every step of the way. He made several spectacular stops, including this gem on All-Star Brent Burns in the second period.

It was a bad night for scorers, a great evening for goalies, and an enjoyable one for anyone who likes watching a bunch of world class acrobats swat away a hefty amount of frozen rubber.