NHL: The Top 20 Greatest Goalies in Playoff History

Roy? Hasek? Brodeur? Belfour? Who is the Greatest Goalie in Playoff History?

We’re getting revved up for the NHL playoffs.  They start tomorrow!

So, a couple of days ago, Sports List of the Day took a look at the greatest scorers in playoff history.  You know who’s No. 1 of course.  But what about the rest of the top 20?

Today, let’s look at the other side of the ice: defense.

Which goalies are the greatest in playoff history? Here are three tables to take in.

The first runs down the top 20 saves leaders. Patrick Roy is waaay out in front.

Is this another unbreakable sports record? Active New Jersey Devils goalie, Martin Brodeur in second, is more than 2,300 saves away.  No one will catch Roy in the foreseeable future.

But that first list is a little unfair. Roy played in 247 postseason games, most all time for a goalie. Also, there are variations in each team’s defense that allow for more shots on goal.

So a better measure, saves percentage, features in the second list.  These guys really are the best playoff goalies, led by Tim Thomas, goalie of the 2010-11 champions, the Boston Bruins.

It’s remarkable how different the first two lists are.

But wait. Even the second list is unfair. Some of these goalies played in too few playoff games.

Which brings us to the final list. I took the fewest number of playoff games from the first list (59) and found the top 20 goalies in save percentage with at least that many postseason games played.

Now we’ve got it. This is probably the truest picture of the greatest goalies in playoff history.  It’s Dominik Hasek, Ed Belfour and Martin Brodeur as your 1-2-3.

Follow me on Twitter @VinGetz.

MOST SAVES IN PLAYOFF HISTORY

	GOALIE	SAVES	GAMES
1.	Patrick Roy	6,565	247
2.	Martin Brodeur	4,253	181
3.	Ed Belfour	4,117	161
4.	Grant Fuhr	3,625	150
5.	Curtis Joseph	3,600	133
6.	Tom Barrasso	3,220	119
7.	Mike Vernon	3,158	138
8.	Dominik Hasek	3,037	119
9.	Chris Osgood	2,918	129
10.	Andy Moog	2,397	132
11.	Ron Hextall	2,392	93
12.	Kelly Hrudey	2,324	85
13.	Mike Richter	2,026	76
14.	Felix Potvin	1,974	72
15.	Kirk McLean	1,936	68
16.	Evgeni Nabokov	1,934	80
17.	Nikolai Khabibulin	1,922	72
18.	John Vanbiesbrouck	1,896	71
19.	Marc-Andre Fleury	1,777	69
20.	Roberto Luongo	1,654	59

BEST SAVE PERCENTAGE IN PLAYOFF HISTORY

	GOALIE	SAVE PCT	GAMES
1.	Tim Thomas	.9347	43
2.	Olaf Kolzig	.9273	45
3.	Patrick Lalime	.9264	41
4.	Jean-Sebastien Giguere	.9253	52
5.	Dominik Hasek	.9251	119
6.	Miikka Kiprusoff	.9210	56
7.	Ed Belfour	.9198	161
8.	Ron Tugnutt	.9191	25
9.	Martin Brodeur	.9188	181
10.	Dwayne Roloson	.9184	50
11.	Patrick Roy	.9183	247
12.	Cam Ward	.9172	41
13.	Ilya Bryzgalov	.9171	27
14.	Nikolai Khabibulin	.9170	72
14.	Ryan Miller	.9170	47
16.	Roberto Luongo	.9169	59
17.	Curtis Joseph	.9167	133
18.	Chris Osgood	.9162	129
19.	John Vanbiesbrouck	.9146	71
20.	Marty Turco	.9142	47

BEST SAVE PERCENTAGE IN PLAYOFF HISTORY (min. 59 GAMES)

	GOALIE	SAVE PCT	GAMES
1.	Dominik Hasek	.925	119
2.	Ed Belfour	.920	161
3.	Martin Brodeur	.919	181
4.	Patrick Roy	.918	247
5.	Curtis Joseph	.917	133
5.	Nikolai Khabibulin	.917	72
5.	Roberto Luongo	.917	59
8.	Chris Osgood	.916	129
9.	John Vanbiesbrouck	.915	71
10.	Evgeni Nabokov	.913	80
11.	Marc-Andre Fleury	.910	69
11.	Felix Potvin	.910	72
13.	Mike Richter	.909	76
14.	Kirk McLean	.907	68
15.	Billy Smith	.903	132
16.	Tom Barrasso	.902	119
17.	Grant Fuhr	.900	150
18.	Ron Hextall	.897	93
18.	Mike Liut	.897	67
20.	Mike Vernon	.896	138

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