NHL Playoff Predictions 2012: Jonathan Quick and Goalies Who'll Lead Upset Bids

Goaltending dominates the NHL playoffs, which is why all a team needs heading into the postseason is a goalie who can get hot at the right time and a Stanley Cup berth is possible.

Nobody expected J.S. Giguère in 2003 with the Anaheim Ducks, or rookie Cam Ward with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006 to lead their teams to the Stanley Cup Finals, but they got hot at the right time.

Last season, we saw Tim Thomas' fantastic play between the pipes be a major reason why the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup.

Let's look at three goalies capable of pulling off some upsets in the first round.

Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings

Jonathan Quick is the reason the Los Angeles Kings even had a shot at making the playoffs. He was under enormous pressure to win nearly every game he played because the Kings had the second-worst offense in the NHL this season.

After the Jeff Carter trade in February, the team's goalscoring improved, but their reliance on Quick remained quite high.

Quick's incredible 1.95 GAA shows you why the Vancouver Canucks will have a tough time eliminating the Kings in the first round. Quick doesn't give up easy goals and won't make costly mistakes.The teams spilt the season series 2-2 with the Kings outscoring the Canucks by an 8-7 margin.

With Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo under a ton of pressure to play well right from the start, there's a chance he could crumble. He knows that a poor Game 1 could lead to talented backup Cory Schneider starting Game 2.

The Kings players are very confident that Quick will give them a chance to win every game in this series, and he isn't fighting huge pressure or incredibly high expectations. No one will blame Quick if they lose this series because he got L.A. here.

This will allow him to focus and play his game. If Quick can limit the Canucks' scoring to one or two goals per game, then the Kings will upset the Canucks in the first round.

If Canucks star forward Daniel Sedin cannot play in Game 1 after his recovery from a concussion, or is rusty when he does come back, then the Canucks offense is in deep trouble against the NHL's best goaltender.

Craig Anderson, Ottawa Senators

The Ottawa Senators might not upset the New York Rangers, but the play of Craig Anderson will push the Blueshirts to the limit.

Anderson was 2-1 against the Rangers this season, including a 3-0 shutout back in January. Anderson played very well for the Senators this season, who were one of the biggest surprises of 2011-12 after being a lottery team last year.

Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist had a Vezina Trophy caliber season but his playoff stats are not impressive. He's 15-20 all-time in the playoffs, including a 4-8 record in his last 12 postseason games.

Lundqvist is under immense pressure to lead the Rangers on a deep playoff run, because if he doesn't, he could be labelled as yet another regular-season goalie who can't deliver when it counts.

If Anderson can steal one or both of the first two games at Madison Square Garden, which he's fully capable of doing, the Senators' confidence in this series will skyrocket.

Ilya Bryzgalov, Philadelphia Flyers

Usually the No. 4 vs. No. 5 matchups aren't considered upsets either way, but for the Pittsburgh Penguins to lose in the first round with a healthy Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, it would be a surprise to many.

Luckily for the Philadelphia Flyers, Ilya Bryzgalov has sorted out his early season problems and is playing very well heading into the playoffs.

From the beginning of March through the final regular season game, Bryzgalov was 11-3-1 with four shutouts, including wins against the Detroit Red Wings and Penguins.

Bryzgalov comes into the playoffs with much more rest than he had in each of the past two years when he was relied on to carry the Phoenix Coyotes into the postseason and was fatigued by April.

The pressure is on Bryzgalov to perform and live up to his massive contract, but with a great team in front of him, he will rise to the occasion and lead the Flyers to a series win over the Penguins.

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Nicholas Goss is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and was the organization's on-site reporter for the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals in Boston.