ESPN NHL

Everybody loves a reliable goaltender, but two of the most consistent netminders of the regular season won't even be playing in the postseason. Florida's Roberto Luongo has stopped 500 more shots than any other goalie and has the second-best save percentage (.932) and Minnesota's Dwayne Roloson has the second-best goals-against average (1.92) and fourth-best save percentage (.931) in the NHL.

So much for consistency, especially in the Western Conference where the retirement of Patrick Roy last summer created a void of money goaltenders in the conference. But all the ups and downs of the past six months don't matter next week when the Stanley Cup playoffs begin. For the eight or so goalies whose teams survived the season, they'll just be happy to be consistent for the next 2½ months.

Here's a look at the questions facing the goaltenders of the Western Conference teams with statistics through Thursday night's games (on Thursday, I looked at the East's netminders):

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