Goaltenders Kevin Lankinen of Finland and Henrik Lundqvist of Sweden shake hands following their quarter-final game.
photo: Matt Zambonin / HHOF-IIHF Images
The 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship is heading into the final weekend with only four teams left standing, and the team that emerges with gold on Sunday night is surely going to have to receive gold-quality goaltending from its puckstopper.
Curiously, the four goaltenders left in the game can be separated by the two with experience – Matt Murray (Canada) and Andrei Vasilevski (Russia), and two without previous World Championship experience – Patrik Bartosak (Czech Republic) and Kevin Lankinen (Finland).
Murray is only 24 but comes fully loaded and has played up to the quality of his resume. He won a bronze with Canada at the 2012 U18 and played for the exciting North America U24 team at the 2016 World Cup.
More significantly, he led the Pittsburgh Penguins to consecutive Stanley Cup wins in 2016 and 2017, the former in Ken Dryden style – he made his NHL debut only late in the season, then carried the Pens to victory in the playoffs as a rookie.
Although Vasilevski is also only 24, he is a “three” goalie in the IIHF world of hockey. That is, he played three U18 tournaments, three U20s, and is now in his third senior World Championship. He won gold at the 2014 WM as the second goalie and bronze in 2017 as the number-one man when he was named IIHF Directorate Best Goalie.
Vasilevski has been with the Tampa Bay Lightning for five years, three as the top man, and he helped the Lightning tie an all-time NHL mark with 62 wins this past season.
And then there is Patrik Bartosak. The 26-year-old was drafted 146th overall by Los Angeles in 2013 but never made it to the NHL. He has been playing in the Czech league. His only IIHF experience was at the 2013 World Juniors when the Czechs finished fifth. (He went to the 2018 Olympics but didn’t play.)
Lankinen is even more inexperienced that Bartosak. Also 24, he was never drafted by an NHL team. He played several years in Finland and then, despite missing much of 2017/18 with injury, was signed by Chicago. He played this past season with the team’s AHL affiliate in Rockford, but he has never played an IIHF game for Suomi prior to Kosice.
And yet, the four goalies – two with great resumes, two without (yet) – are now fighting for two spots in the gold medal game. In Slovakia this year they have all had the lion’s share of the workload and have all produced similar numbers.
They have allowed about the same number of goals – 10 for Vasilevski and Murray, 11 for Lankinen, 12 for Bartosak. Their save percentage is very close – 93.79 for Vasilevski; 92.00 for Murray; 91.72 for Bartosak; 91.60 for Lankinen. They have all played at least 300 minutes, and they all have the capacity to take their team to victory.
Now it’s just a matter of time before one proves himself just that slightly bit superior to his opponents. To that goalie will go the gold.
Curiously, the four goaltenders left in the game can be separated by the two with experience – Matt Murray (Canada) and Andrei Vasilevski (Russia), and two without previous World Championship experience – Patrik Bartosak (Czech Republic) and Kevin Lankinen (Finland).
Murray is only 24 but comes fully loaded and has played up to the quality of his resume. He won a bronze with Canada at the 2012 U18 and played for the exciting North America U24 team at the 2016 World Cup.
More significantly, he led the Pittsburgh Penguins to consecutive Stanley Cup wins in 2016 and 2017, the former in Ken Dryden style – he made his NHL debut only late in the season, then carried the Pens to victory in the playoffs as a rookie.
Although Vasilevski is also only 24, he is a “three” goalie in the IIHF world of hockey. That is, he played three U18 tournaments, three U20s, and is now in his third senior World Championship. He won gold at the 2014 WM as the second goalie and bronze in 2017 as the number-one man when he was named IIHF Directorate Best Goalie.
Vasilevski has been with the Tampa Bay Lightning for five years, three as the top man, and he helped the Lightning tie an all-time NHL mark with 62 wins this past season.
And then there is Patrik Bartosak. The 26-year-old was drafted 146th overall by Los Angeles in 2013 but never made it to the NHL. He has been playing in the Czech league. His only IIHF experience was at the 2013 World Juniors when the Czechs finished fifth. (He went to the 2018 Olympics but didn’t play.)
Lankinen is even more inexperienced that Bartosak. Also 24, he was never drafted by an NHL team. He played several years in Finland and then, despite missing much of 2017/18 with injury, was signed by Chicago. He played this past season with the team’s AHL affiliate in Rockford, but he has never played an IIHF game for Suomi prior to Kosice.
And yet, the four goalies – two with great resumes, two without (yet) – are now fighting for two spots in the gold medal game. In Slovakia this year they have all had the lion’s share of the workload and have all produced similar numbers.
They have allowed about the same number of goals – 10 for Vasilevski and Murray, 11 for Lankinen, 12 for Bartosak. Their save percentage is very close – 93.79 for Vasilevski; 92.00 for Murray; 91.72 for Bartosak; 91.60 for Lankinen. They have all played at least 300 minutes, and they all have the capacity to take their team to victory.
Now it’s just a matter of time before one proves himself just that slightly bit superior to his opponents. To that goalie will go the gold.