jacob the goalie

Las Vegas - Gotta have a great goalie to even think about smelling the Stanley Cup, and Calgary's Jacob Markstrom, the Swedish star, is trending toward great. He is one of three finalists for the Vezina Trophy as the best goaltender, along with Igor Shesterkin of the Rangers and Jusse Saros of the Predators. Why? Markstrom recorded nine bagels this season and NO ONE in the league had more shutouts. If you wanna get a little deeper into the analytics, Jacob was fifth in even strength save percentage (.926) and goals saved above average (17.90). Of course, you need offense and the Flames were the 6th best team in the NHL, scoring 291 goals. What about Dallas? The Stars closed the regular season as the 21st best offense in the league. Gigantic differential. With Johnny Gaudreau and Elias Lindholm finding the back of the net in game four, Calgary has to get a little help from its other 40 goal scorer, Matthew Tkachuk. And they will, so it's the Flames for the money!

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