Year in and year out in the National Hockey League, fans and media alike talk about the need for more scoring whether it is in the regular season or the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

It looks like fans will be asking the same thing during this post season as there have already been four shutouts in this year’s playoffs. The zero’s came from Pittsburgh Penguins netminder Marc Andre Fleury, Montreal Canadiens’ goaltender Carey Price, Vancouver Canucks’ goaltender Roberto Luongo and Buffalo Sabres’ masked man Ryan Miller.

Come playoff time, it is not just the forwards that have to step up their games in order to contribute when it matters the most. In turn, the goaltenders need to do the reverse and do it to an even higher level, which is what the four goalies mentioned above did in their respective Game 1’s.

We’ll start with Carey Price’s 31 saves against the Boston Bruins. The Canadiens’ faithful are hoping that Price can turn into Halak of last year, which is a lot to ask of Price. With that said, however, Price appears to be more than up to the task, much like he has been all season long for the Canadiens.

Equally impressive was Fleury’s 32-save shutout over the offensively-talented Tampa Bay Lightning. He was especially good in the second period when he made an incredible save against Lightning forward Vincent Lecavalier in the second period to keep the game knotted up at 0-0. Without the likes of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, Fleury will need more performances like this one to move the Penguins forward in the postseason.

Miller’s 35-save shutout performance over the Philadelphia Flyers was also impressive. It was Miller’s first game back from an upper body injury and he did a terrific job of playing within himself, looking calm and composed, controlling his rebounds and being there to make the big save when his team needed it the most. The Sabres’ will need more goaltending of that nature if they want to advance to the second round.

Lastly, Luongo had a 32-save shutout performance over the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 1. Coming into this series, many wondered if the Blackhawks’ past playoff performances would be dancing in Luongo’s head. Judging by “Louie’s” performance in Game 1, I would say no.

With so many great netminders in this year’s playoffs, there could be many more shutouts to come.

*photo by del Tufo