Recipe for Success - how hockey teams can win the Stanley Cup competition

Hockey Digest, May, 2001 by Karl Samuelson

"I went into the corner with Terry O'Reilly, got the puck from him, and put it on [Bill] Flett's stick. Flett passed it to [Bobby] Clarke, who swung at the puck--but it hit the post. [Clarke then] took another swing and put it in. That was the biggest point in my career." Schultz says that winning Game 2 in Boston was the key to Philly going on to win its first Stanley Cup.

3. Stir in a big save

A clutch save can provide just as much inspiration to a team as a clutch goal.

"Some goalies in big games get small, some goalies in big games get big," says Nashville Predators goaltending coach Mitch Korn. "The best goalies want to make a difference every time they play. They don't make excuses or blame the defense. They want to make the difference themselves. Grant Fuhr did it for the Edmonton Oilers and Billy Smith did it for the New York Islanders."

Detroit general manager Ken Holland agrees: "That's what separates the great goaltenders from the rest of the pack. If a playoff series is on the line and you make the saves and your team wins, then you've made the difference."

Solid goaltending is a staple of all successful Stanley Cup runs.

"You simply must have great goaltending," says former Los Angeles Kings star Jim Fox, who is now the color commentator on Kings telecasts. "Goalies will be mad at me for saying this, but in my opinion you shouldn't give the Conn Smythe Trophy [for the playoff MVP] to a goalie because it's a given that without great goaltending, you're not going to win the Stanley Cup. If you don't have it, you're not going to get there."

4. Beat continuously with great goaltending

The San Jose Sharks taught a goaltending lesson to the Detroit Red Wings in the 1994 playoffs. The 1993-94 Wings played a firewagon brand of hockey, scoring 356 goals in the regular season--103 more goals than they managed in either of their two title seasons in the '90s. Detroit was expected to quickly dispense with the Sharks, but San Jose played a highly disciplined team game in support of the goaltending heroics of Arturs Irbe and upset the heavily-favored Red Wings in seven games.

"Irbe stood on his head and their whole team responded," Holland recalls. "You can look back on a number of saves as turning points. Irbe made those saves and we were out."

The Red Wings goaltending duties in the series were split between rookie Chris Osgood and veteran Bob Essensa. While Osgood showed promise--he shut out the Sharks in his playoff debut--it was Essensa who was acquired at the trading deadline to lead the Red Wings to the holy grail. After the Essensa experiment failed, the Red Wings went shopping during the offseason and found a proven winner in Mike Vernon.

"We felt we needed to bring someone in here who had won in the past and could handle the pressure of playing in Detroit," Holland explains. "Mike brought an impressive resume, he won the Stanley Cup with the Calgary Flames [in 1988] and had a reputation for not letting the pressure get to him. I don't know of anybody in this league more mentally tough than Mike Vernon."