As has been mentioned, selection is the spice of life. In an try and showcase that, a few of the stops you could have imagined making the minimize and touchdown among the many better of the previous decade haven’t.
However that’s not with out purpose. What we needed to do right here was placed on show a collection of the best stops and achieve this with out getting redundant. There’s solely so many spectacular stick saves one can watch earlier than the novelty wears off. (Belief me. I spent hours watching YouTube spotlight reels and by the tip of the primary half hour, I began to query if it’s ability or dumb luck. An actual pre-Christmas Scrooge second.)
So, with out additional ado, listed below are the top-10 saves of the 2010s:
10. Jonathan Fast sweeps the leg – April 5, 2017A method or one other, Fast was going to seek out his means onto this record. And whereas he has arguably made higher saves all through the last decade, what vaults this one forward of the remainder is that it encapsulates what made Fast so profitable throughout his greatest seasons. He was Dominik Hasek-esque in his capability to throw his limbs concerning the crease and make stops, and that is fairly probably some of the distinctive saves Fast has made. Bonus factors for this not being a matter of Holland merely inserting his shot improper. He put it the place he needed, however Fast tracked it and threw out the leg.
9. Ryan Miller takes away an empty netter – Nov. 10, 2016Typically talking, once we speak about “taking away an empty-netter,” we imply that a goaltender is stealing a certain aim when the cage is huge open and he seems to be lifeless within the water. Not the case right here! On this event, it’s an honest-to-goodness occasion of Ryan Miller taking away an empty-net aim. With time winding down, he was set to depart the crease, however after a turnover put the puck on the stick of the Detroit Purple Wings’ Henrik Zetterberg, Miller made the mad sprint again to the crease and Supermanned his means onto this record.
eight. Applause for Carey Value – Nov. 19, 2018The confluence of occasions is what lands this cease on the record. Not solely is that this a dying-seconds, game-saving save, it’s one of many best goaltenders of this era stealing what was seemingly a surefire game-winning aim off the stick of one of many best aim scorers of all-time. And making it simply that a lot better is Alex Ovechkin’s literal applause for Carey Value after the cease. Sport acknowledge sport.
7. Tim Thomas paddles away certain aim – Might 23, 2011Story time. In a normal NHL dialogue thread that existed on a now-defunct message board I frequented on the time of this save, a Vancouver Canucks fan wrote that this save by Thomas was the explanation he feared the Boston Bruins advancing to the ultimate. He believed Thomas might steal the 2011 Stanley Cup ultimate from the Canucks, who have been odds-on favorites. Seems that was prescient. The Bruins rode Thomas, who posted the best single-series save share (.967) of any goaltender to play greater than 4 video games in a Stanley Cup ultimate, to the NHL crown. That’s additionally the best SP of any goaltender to play all seven video games of a seven-game sequence.
6. Karri Ramo flashes leather-based and stuns Rangers – Feb. 24, 2015There have been loads of glove stops that might have made the record, however Ramo’s was among the many most particular for a pair causes. First, this wasn’t a dumb-luck attain for the puck. If you happen to watch, you’ll be able to see Ramo find and get his eyes on the puck earlier than he stands proud the glove. Second, he pulls this one principally off the aim line. Had his glove been positioned a number of inches again, there’s an opportunity this crosses the road whereas in his mitt. However nope. No cube.
5. Jake Allen says Da-NO! – Nov. 14, 2015When deciding which stops ought to make the record, there was some consideration given to moments the place everybody was fooled into considering a aim had been scored. And that’s why this cease by Allen is within the prime 5. The Blackhawks – together with Dano, who was standing proper there – thought this was in. The St. Louis Blues’ broadcast crew thought it was in. The one one that knew for sure that it didn’t cross the road, for at the least a cut up second, was Allen. He stopped it by a hair, however he stopped it.
four. Henrik Lundqvist throws out his heel – Jan. 11, 2016He’s probably the greatest goaltenders of the last decade and also you needed to know he was going to land on the record someplace. This cease on Max Talbot is one in every of Lundqvist’s greatest. After happening into the butterfly, Lundqvist has to plant, change path after which twist his leg into an inhuman place to get a pair inches of heel on the shot. Excellent.
three. Andrei Vasilevskiy goes behind the again – Feb. 10, 2018It was a private feeling that open play is all that must be thought-about for this record, thus Vasilevskiy’s behind-the-back shootout save wasn’t included right here. However that’s OK, as a result of Vasilevskiy was form sufficient to make a pair of those stops in close to successive video games. It was solely two weeks earlier than his shootout save that Vasilevskiy threw his hat within the ring for save of the 2017-18 season with a behind-the-back effort that robbed Anze Kopitar.
2. Kari Lehtonen fools everybody – Jan. 28, 2013Right here’s your reminder that some additional worth was given to these stops that tricked everybody within the constructing. That is a kind of saves. It additionally will get included one spot forward of Vasilevskiy’s behind-the-back cease as a result of Lehtonen contorts himself like a Cirque de Soleil acrobat after he locates a fluttering puck that’s perilously near crossing the aim line. This isn’t a look-what-I-found second. He knew what he was doing and actually picks this one out of the air backhanded. He had the Columbus Blue Jackets, together with shooter Jack Johnson, utterly fooled.
1. “The Save” – Might 30, 2018This one has every thing. It’s a reach-back stick save. It’s within the Stanley Cup ultimate. And it might have very nicely modified the trajectory of the sequence. The Vegas Golden Knights received Sport 1 of the sequence and would have possible despatched Sport 2 to additional time had Holtby not gotten his paddle down. If that occurs and Vegas wins Sport 2 within the additional body, possibly we don’t get the Washington Capitals’ summer season of celebration. In spite of everything, house groups that go up 2-Zero within the post-season have received 89.three p.c of all NHL post-season sequence, in line with Hockey-Reference.
However Holtby did get his paddle down. He did make the save. And the Capitals did win the Stanley Cup, with Holtby’s cease arguably performing because the series-changing second. Better of the last decade. No query.
Over the following two weeks, The Hockey Information will likely be wrapping up the 2010s with a glance again at the perfect – and worst – of the last decade. Discover extra right here.
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Tags: lists, 2010sConnect: Concerning the AuthorJared ClintonJared Clinton is a author and internet editor with The Hockey Information. He is been with the crew since 2014. He was born, raised and resides in Winnipeg, the place he could be discovered lacking the online on out of doors rinks throughout city.
