TheDevilMadeMe
Registered User
You cannot simply erase 1994 due to small sample size. Why? Because when goal support gets so low, it is impossible for the sample size to get any larger.
Let's not pretend that 1994 was characteristic of the goal support Hasek got throughout his time in Buffalo. Compare Hasek's goal support to Brodeur's for the rest of the 1990s.
In 1995, Brodeur received excellent goal support (3.35 per game) as the Devils won the Cup, while Buffalo gave Hasek a modest 2.60 per game. However, Hasek played so poorly in 1995 that goal support likely did not matter.
Hasek's line in the 1995 playoffs: 1-4, .863 Save %, 3.50 GAA. Hasek's save percentage in 1995 was lower than any playoff Roy or Brodeur had as a starter, despite the fact that Roy got his start in an era when save percentages were typically lower. Brodeur's lowest save % = .881 in 2010. Roy's lowest playoff save % = .873 in 1987. (Brodeur played 32 minutes in the 1992 playoffs as a rookie and had a .800 %, but that wasn't even a full game's worth of work). Sure, 1995 is just one year, but it shouldn't count any less than 1994 right?
In 1996, NJ and Buffalo both missed the playoffs. NJ missed because they couldn't score - They had the second best GA in the league but the second worst GF in the league. Buffalo was 14/26 in GF, 16/26 in GA. Buffalo appears to have missed the playoffs because Hasek was peppered with shots, not lack of goal support.
In the late 1990s, Hasek got more goal support than Brodeur did in the playoffs. To quote myself from the main board thread:
Sabres lacked star power up front, but they knew how to score goals as a team.
In the 1997-98 regular season, they scored 211 goals (2.57 per game) barely below the league average of 216 goals. In the playoffs, their offense stepped up, scoring 46 goals in 15 games (3.07 goals per game).
In the 1998-99 regular season, the Sabres scored 207 goals (2.52 gpg), not that far behind the league average which was again 216.
Once again, they stepped up big time in the playoffs, scoring 59 goals in 21 games (2.81 GPG).
Buffalo goal support
1997: 27 in 12 (Steve Shields started 9 of 12 games)
1998: 46 in 15
1999: 59 in 21
Total: 132 in 48 = 2.75 gpg
NJ goal support
1997: 27 in 10
1998: 12 in 6
1999: 18 in 7
Total: 57 in 23 = 2.48 gpg