He tries his best to tune it out. He can’t. What begins as a hum grows to a buzz, louder and louder, until the roar in Pepsi Center makes its way inside the mask of Avalanche goaltender Philipp Grubauer.
GRUUUUU!
“It’s something that’s been with me and the fans for quite a long time now, which is really special,” Grubauer said. “I hear it for sure. ”
Consider that a title that is chant track on the Avalanche Stanley Cup Playoff album. It makes Grubauer wish to dance. Colorado travels to Calgary for Game 1 of the playoffs Thursday night since the 27-year-old German goalie, in his first season with the Avs after six in Washington, has his mojo back. It is backed by the numbers up.
Grubauer went 7-0-2 over his last nine starts with a .953 save percentage, the best mark in the NHL over that stretch, while enabling a 1.63 goals-against average. He notched three shutouts since the calendar turned to March. His 18 wins on the season were a career high.
“Gruby has been unreal,” center Nathan MacKinnon said. “He’s been our best player the last 20 games. We’re fortunate rsquo & that he;s been so good since you can’t ask that much of a goaltender. ”
Such an appraisal didn’t seem possible. Grubauer appeared in net just seven games during January and February. Two wins. All far from what he envisioned after winning a Stanley Cup with Washington last season. Yet hockey had struck Grubauer many times before.
A severe case of mononucleosis kept him off the ice for five months in 2011 and he lost 20 lbs. Grubauer endured wrist operation a year later. And he watched from the bench last year after the Capitals won the Stanley Cup despite beginning the postseason as the newcomer. When Washington dropped its first two playoff games to Columbus with Grubauer in net, Braden Holtby started at goalie the rest of the way and became a star of his own in D.C. Washington traded Grubauer shortly afterwards.
“You can fall in a hole and get really gloomy,” Grubauer said, “or be positive and wake up. ”
The funny thing about NHL goaltending is the puzzle t perform the position. Even teammates who share the identical ice had trouble explaining how Grubauer flipped the switch this season from riding the bench to posting the best save percentage in history by an Avalanche goalie in March (.955).
Coach Jared Bednar: “I don’t understand, exactly. ”
MacKinnon: “Goalies do their own thing. … They’re in their own world. ”
Defenseman Tyson Barrie: “I don’t even start to get at the mind of a goalie. ”
The secret to Grubauer’s turnaround? There isn’one that is t. The benefit of taking a backseat is a chance for self-evaluation that is increased.
“You can’t stop working, because if you stop working, the game will get way ahead of you,” Grubauer said. “You don’t want to catch up. That’s what I’ve been doing in practice; trying to figure out my mistakes and learn from them and working hard. Simplify things. ”
Grubauer scoured his own tape, made adjustments and results fell in line. Bednar said: “He makes a few saves, gets a few wins, the team begins feeling good about it and he feels good about it. It’s a snowball effect. ”
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“He’s been outstanding for us and is a major reason ” Barrie added. “He’s confident. He appears to be swallowing up everything. The goals he’s giving up are a one or perhaps a backdoor tap-in where he doesn&rsquo. ”
The noise of GRUUUUU from lovers punctuating every save traveled from Washington. The chant started after Grubauer joined the Capitals as a fourth-round draft pick in 2010. A silence fell in stretches, but the roar returned within the Pepsi Center this spring.
Grubauer anticipates an explosion of noise when Colorado hosts the Flames for Games 3 and 4.
“You try to focus on the game,” Grubauer said, and then smiled. “But you still hear your home lovers. ”
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