Dryden's .921 in an era when .900 was hard to attain stands out from the crowd.
He was also a big game guy and could stun teams in their building. Game 7 vs Boston and game 7 against Chicago, both in 1971, Game 6 in Moscow in 1972, Game 6 in Chicago in 1973, Game 3 in Philadelphia in 1976, Game 6 on Long Island in 1977 - these were all games in which he made multiple miraculous saves and changed the momentum of the game and series. He won six Stanley Cups in 8 seasons, plus the Summit Series against the USSR.
Dryden's consistency gives him the edge over Roy, who had years where he was badly outplayed in the playoffs. Roy also had only the 6th highest save percentage in the league over his final 4 regular seasons in Montreal, not consistently great enough to beat out Dryden. Plante, too, had some down years.
The minute Dryden came up to the NHL, he single-handedly transformed the Montreal Canadiens from a 90 point team to the greatest underdog Cup winner of all-time. He posted a 1.65 GAA in six regular season games, beat out Hall of Famer Rogie Vachon for the starting job in the playoffs, then won the Conn Smythe BEFORE winning the Calder the next year. That Conn Smythe Trophy was the most obvious in the history of the game. To beat the Bruins, who had just posted the best regular season in history, with Bobby Orr on D, and 152 point scorer Ohil Esposito up front, and three weeks later the Blackhawks with HOFer Tony Esposito in nets and Bobby Hull leading the forwards, was INCREDIBLE. Besides stealing the Summit Series with his Game 6 performance, as Canada played shorthanded for almost half the game, Dryden still won 5 MORE CUPS as the Habs stayed at the top of the league that decade. It's no coincidence that the Habs Cup streak ended in 1979 with the retirement of Ken Dryden. He made that much of a difference.
Great post. You know your history. Thanks !
