Goalie's biggest save: his career

Theodore rebounds from rough start with Avalanche, returns to playoffs

By Rick Sadowski, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published April 8, 2008 at 7 p.m.
Updated April 9, 2008 at 11:33 a.m.

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Photo by David Zalubowski / Associated Press

Jose Theodore was impressive in the regular season with a 2.44 goals-against average and .910 saves percentage, but he fell off in the playoffs.

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Jose Theodore was coming off a forgettable regular season when he made his Stanley Cup playoff debut with the Avalanche two years ago.

The 2002 Hart and Vezina trophy winner was recovering from a fractured heel when he was acquired from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for David Aebischer on March 8, 2006, and he wasn't activated from the injured reserve list until April 9.

Banished from Montreal because mediocre performances didn't justify his hefty salary, Theodore played in five regular- season games for the Avalanche, looking rusty and ordinary, before showing signs of his former award- winning self against the Dallas Stars in the first round of the playoffs.

Theodore won his first three postseason starts and made 50 saves in a 3-2 overtime win in Game 5 that clinched the series. But the Avalanche was overmatched in the second round and totaled only four goals in a four-game sweep at the hands of the Anaheim Ducks.

Now the Avalanche is back in the playoffs after missing out last season, and the 31-year-old goalie is being counted on to backstop the team past the Minnesota Wild after revitalizing a career that had been on such a downward spiral.

"I feel really at home right now," Theodore said. "The first time when I was here and I played in the playoffs, I only had a couple (previous) games. Still we got past the first round, which was good for the experience.

"Now, I've worked so hard for a full season to get back in the playoffs. It's fun to be part of it."

Confidence soaring

Goaltending is critical in the playoffs and will be especially important in what promises to be a tight-checking, low-scoring series with the Wild.

"Jose has played so well down the stretch," forward Andrew Brunette said. "I thought he carried us for a good month when we had some injuries. He got his confidence high and he's playing as good as any goalie in the league right now.

"That gives a team that plays in front of him a lot of confidence."

Theodore's turnaround has been extraordinary. He was relegated to backup duty last season behind Peter Budaj and sat on the bench for 39 of the final 46 games despite a $5.5 million salary, prompting speculation in the offseason the Avalanche would buy out the final year of his contract and cut its losses.

But Theodore regained his No. 1 status shortly after New Year's and played a pivotal role in the Avalanche's second-place finish in the Northwest Division and No. 6 seed in the Western Conference.

He started 36 of the last 41 games - he missed three of those with back spasms - and went 13-5-1 in his final 19 starts, limiting opponents to two goals or fewer in 12 of them.

"Last year, starting around Christmas, I really didn't play much, so I said, 'I'm going to prepare myself for next season,' " said Theodore, who posted a 28-21-3 record this season with three shutouts, a 2.44 goals- against average and .910 save percentage.

"I pretty much approached the season like a young kid going into his first training camp. A couple of years ago, I had a great season, so I knew I could do it again.

"Sometimes, when it goes on the bad side, it snowballs. It goes quick; you lose your edge. That's what I wanted to get back, that extra edge, wanting to make every save."

Assist to Hackett

Theodore credits much of his comeback to working with goalie coach and former Canadiens teammate Jeff Hackett, who is in his second season with the Avalanche.

Theodore is a relatively small goalie at 5-foot-11 and 182 pounds, so he doesn't take up much net and needed to challenge shooters more than he had been.

"He's probably a little higher in the crease," coach Joel Quenneville said. "His rebound control is more efficient and he's handling the puck well and working with his defensemen. He's gotten the bulk of the games this year, almost all the games down the stretch to get us in the playoffs. He's confident and he's excited about it.

"Everybody wants to be the best, especially when you've been the best before. If you look back at the confidence he had when he was at the elite-goalie level, I think he's recaptured that form."

The Avalanche will need that form to beat the Wild, which plays stingy defense and has a top-notch goalie in Niklas Backstrom.

"I never doubted myself," Theodore said. "I always played a lot and when I got into a rhythm, I've been feeling the way you should feel. When you go through tough times, you come back even stronger."

The puck stops here

There's a reason why nine of the past 24 Conn Smythe Trophy winners have been goalies: They're ridiculously important.

As dangerous as all-time scoring king Wayne Gretzky was during his five Stanley Cup Finals appearances, the Great One managed to take home the trophy "only" twice as the postseason's most valuable player.

Nine centers, five defensemen and one right wing (Claude Lemieux with New Jersey in 1995) have won the Conn Smythe Trophy since 1983, when the New York Islanders won their fourth consecutive championship behind MVP goalie Battlin' Billy Smith.

Goalie Patrick Roy was named MVP a record three times, in 2001 with the Avalanche and in 1986 and 1993 with the Montreal Canadiens.

No player at any position has more influence - good or bad - in a hockey game than a goalie, who can lift an ordinary team to greatness or let even a powerhouse down with a spotty performance.

There have been plenty of outstanding efforts by goalies in playoff competition over the years.

Clint Benedict

He played 17 seasons and won four Stanley Cups - three with the original Ottawa Senators between 1920 and 1923, and one with the Montreal Maroons in 1926. In 1930, Benedict became the first goalie to wear a makeshift mask, a flimsy nosepiece he discarded after two games. (The Canadiens' Jacques Plante is credited with being a pioneer because he started wearing a mask on a regular basis in 1959.) In 1926, Benedict shut out the Victoria Cougars three times and the Maroons won the best-of-five Finals in four games.

Terry Sawchuk

Only 22, Sawchuk allowed a total of five goals in eight games in 1952 for the Detroit Red Wings, who swept the defending champion Toronto Maple Leafs in the semifinals and the Canadiens in the Finals. Sawchuk recorded two shutouts in each series, had three one-goal games and one two-goal game while facing between 25 and 30 shots a night. The Conn Smythe wasn't awarded until 1965, so Sawchuk settled for the Cup and a place in playoff lore.

Ken Dryden

A "thinking man's goalie," the Cornell graduate (and later lawyer, author, TV analyst and currently a member of Parliament in Canada) was a 24-year-old rookie when the Canadiens summoned him from the minors with seven games left in the 1970-71 season.

After serving as veteran Rogie Vachon's backup for one game, Dryden was tabbed by coach Al MacNeil to play the final six games and start the playoffs. A lanky 6-foot-4, 200-pounder, Dryden was spectacular as the Canadiens upset the high scoring and defending champion Boston Bruins - led by Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito and John Bucyk - in the first round. The Canadiens went on to win the Stanley Cup, beating the Chicago Blackhawks in seven games.

Billy Smith

The New York Islanders goalie kept the high- powered Edmonton Oilers away from his crease in the 1983 Finals with an occasional slash, and he frustrated Wayne Gretzky and Co. with sensational saves throughout the four-game sweep. Smith held the Oilers, who scored 424 goals in the regular season, to six goals in the series - none by Gretzky.

Patrick Roy

As well as Roy played in winning Stanley Cups with the Avalanche in 1996 and 2001, and with Montreal in 1986, he was never better than in the 1993 playoffs when the Canadiens played 10 overtime games and won them all. During one stretch, Roy led the Canadiens to 11 consecutive wins.

In overtime of Game 4 in the Finals against the Wayne Gretzky-led Los Angeles Kings, in an eventual 3-2 triumph, Roy made a huge save against Luc Robitaille and responded with a now-famous wink for Tomas Sandstrom, who was parked at the edge of the crease. The Canadiens won the series in five games.

Of course, Avalanche fans won't forget his performance in the sweep of the Florida Panthers in the 1996 Finals. Roy stopped 147-of-151 shots, including all 63 shots he faced in Game 4, a 1-0 triple-overtime win.

Numbers game

270:08 of consecutive shutout time, a playoff record, set by Montreal's George Hainsworth in 1930.

He said it

"I don't think any one of us would overlook (New Jersey's) Marty Brodeur. My opinion is he's the best goaltender ever to play the position."

Mike Emrick, hockey broadcaster.

Still a winner

Five players have won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the Stanley Cup playoffs despite playing for the losing team. Four of those players were goalies:

G Roger Crozier Detroit , 1966

G Glenn Hall St. Louis, 1968

RW Reggie Leach Philadelphia, 1976

G Ron Hextall Philadelphia, 1987

G Jean-Sebastien Giguere (above) Anaheim, 2003

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