M.T. Net Showing Some Power

[Devise 4,475]

There is no denying that Maximus Theodore Power was the New York Americans biggest weakness heading into the season. It was obvious when the NY GM and player agent of Maximus kept Power down in Season 52 and opted for a more veteran goalie in Korpalkov. When the Americans had some surprising early success in 52, the question mark again switched to their budding future goalie. M.T. Power figures to be the goalie of the future for the Americans. He is a GM player and fills a position that the franchise clearly needed security at. Yet it's still only his second season, and he's only just climbing his way closer to the 400 TPE mark. For a contending team that relies on heavy offense, it was clear at the beginning of the season that if they were to get into goalie battles in the playoffs, that is to say lower scoring games that can stretch into OT that they could face elimination. 

 

However the team and franchise have been surprised that the sub 400 TPE rookie goalie has shown some playoff MVP like fire thus far in the playoffs. Most would agree that without the very solid play by MT Power the Americans probably wouldn't be in a position to challenge for back to back Continental Cups. In fact if one were to dig deeper into the stats, Power has to be considered the teams MVP thus far, and the overall favorite to win the Daisuke Kanou trophy up to this point. Obviously the finals still need to be decided, and there is still some great skill on that Stockholm roster and candidates breaking over there. Look no further than the underrated Tyson Kohler. But regarding Powers stat line;

 

M.T. Power - GP: 12; W: 8; L: 2; OTL: 2; SV%: .928; GAA: 1.87; SO: 2 

 

It's hard not to be impressed. He leads the active goalie list department, and only sits behind Apollo Skye who had a whale of a first round outing against the Americans but was still out-dueled by Power and the Americans when Quebec lost in five. In fact that is probably the most impressive thing about Powers stat line. It isn't just that he's been good. It's that he's been good exactly when he's needed to in situations when facing teams with goalies who can steal a game, or even a series. Every single game against Quebec was a one goal game for the Americans, with Apollo Skye turning in multiple stunning performances. However Power and the Americans were able to match Quebec stride for stride in close games. The murmur of the NY locker room was almost worried with the results of the first round series. The games were way closer than they had hoped, and there was I think some genuine concern even among management about how the team would stack up against a team with a goalie just as capable of Skye in Holik, and with more offensive firepower to support that. 

 

Power responded in the first game of the series to make a statement. As the Americans only managed 2 goals on Holik, but Power was perfect in the opening game. It was a signal for what may of been to come, as the Americans then managed to score 5 in game 2, and win in an absolutely stunning Game 3 that saw double OT on the back of a goal by Diana Maxwell. But much like he did with Skye, Power was outdueling Jakab Holik much of the second round series. Game four almost saw the Americans steal the entire series from the Bears as we saw more OT action. But despite a stunning .950, Power was bested by Holik and his .967, as well as the clutch OT goal by Bogdan Podarok. Power stumbled in game Five, giving up 3 goals on 23 shots in what was another impressive win for Holik and his Bears. The Bears would pummel the Americans in game six, winning by an impressive 4-1 and almost doubling the offensive minded club in shots despite being on the road. 

 

But much like he did in the first game of the series, Power and his Americans knew they needed a statement game to win this series. And in another goalie battle what went into OT Phil Shankly was able to provide the road heroics backed by another impressive performance by Power, who managed a .941 save percentage and only let in two goals during the game. While the Bears didn't out shoot the Americans in Game Seven in total, many credited Power for keeping the game alive for his team. The Bears dominated the play in the first period, outshooting them 21-11 and going up 2-0. But Power was able to give his team a chance to get back into by allowing the Americans to hang in their in spite of the first period. Then the Americans turned the flow of play the rest of game; only giving up 13 shots through the 2nd, 3rd, and 3:40 of the OT period. Despite his play Power wasn't awarded a single star in Game seven but he and the Americans know that much like most of the playoffs it's been a surprising amount of team success across the board that has gotten them this far. Coach of the Americans Rauno Pajari had the following to say talking about their playoff run so far;

 

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It's been impressive to see honestly, how resilient and adaptable we have been. I think coming in a lot of people thought we'd need to win by scoring 4, 5 or 6 goals. But I mean we've won 1-0 in these playoffs, we've won 5-3, we've won 2-1. Any way you can win a game we've done it. The guys have all rallied behind each other which is nice to see. Because of that your seeing a lot of heroics across the board. The playoffs aren't always about one player dominating the stat sheet, it's just about winning games when it matters. It's about those clutch moments. Maxwell in double OT, Shankly in OT, Powers shutout to start the series. We've won eight games, and six different players have game winners. I think you combine that with the rock solid goaltending we've been getting out of Power, it's tough to beat us. I think it's not surprising to see us have success, but I think how we are having that success probably surprises some. But we are a strong team across the board, and we play hard. We've had contributions from tons of places, including from our goalie who I think the boys have felt has played with the confidence of a VHL starter. Which is obviously key with so much pressure, and question marks. 

 

On a personal note, I'm not overly surprised by Powers success. If anything I'm surprised it's been as good as it has been at least in terms of goals against, but I figured he'd be decent in the playoffs. Despite all my bad luck with players, I mean Logan Laich had what 9 points one season? Every single one of my players has performed in the playoffs. Sure not always playoff MVP, but the entire montra of me and my "agency" has always felt more about winning in the playoffs than doing great things in the regular season. Even as a GM while obviously I build teams capable of doing good in the regular season at times, I've never won a Victory Cup as I believe Higgins pointed out. Even just looking at the career playoff stats, Pajari had 22 points in 36 playoff games, Laich actually had an impressive 39 playoff points in 49 playoff games, which I was even kind of stunned to see given how scrub he was. Humbert played in more playoff games, having 72 and only had 40 points so he may of been a bit less. And of course Rift won playoff MVP with Quebec and also won a Cup in his rookie season with NY. Pajari was my only player (besides Power and Reinholdt) to never win a Cup. Rift had two, and both Laich and Humbert won with Cologne and NY respectively.