Playoff hockey brings out the best in some players.
And then we have Evgeni Nabokov, Peter Budaj, and Josh Harding. Those are the three losing goalies from Thursday night -- two of whom are now eliminated after their teams lost their series. It was a night featuring spectacularly underwhelming goaltending performances, so let's get to the laughable GIFs right away.
In game five against the New York Islanders, the Pittsburgh Penguins were looking to recapture some of the success that made them the top team in the East during the regular season. Tomas Vokoun got the start in net after Marc-Andre Fleury had an awful Game 4, and the Penguins came out swinging:
That's Sidney Crosby taking a hit early in the game. And here he is scoring an amazing, defense-splitting goal:
Stick to scoring, Sid. Avoid the checks.
Four unanswered goals from the Penguins chased Evgeni Nabokov out of the net:
And Pittsburgh took a 3-2 series lead.
The Montreal Canadiens were looking to avoid elimination on their home ice, but they'd have to do it without starting goaltender Carey Price, who was injured in game four. Would backup Peter Budaj be the surprise hero for the Canadiens?
No. No, he would not.
The Senators won the game 6-1 and the series 4-1.
In the last game of the evening, the Chicago Blackhawks had a chance to eliminate the Minnesota Wild in Game 5 of the series, and took advantage of an off night from goalie Josh Harding to do exactly that.
Here are the first three goals for the Blackhawks, which put them up 3-0 in the second period. Every single one of them can be blamed, to some extent, on Harding:
Ouch, ouch, ouch. That would be it for Harding, but backup goalie Darcy Kuemper didn't score any goals for the Wild, so they still lost.
The Blackhawks won the series 4-1.
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• Complete Stanley Cup Playoffs coverage