Penguins Goaltending: The Chicken or the Egg?

I was casting about this morning, pondering what I could possibly write about when I was reminded of a recent conversation with Other Rick regarding the state of the Penguins’ goaltending. Which dovetails with an overarching question that’s been on my mind.

Namely, was our poor goaltending a direct result of our watery defense (third-most goals allowed in the league)? Or did porous netminding (13 first-shot goals against) sabotage the team’s chances?

A classic case of the chicken or the egg conundrum.

Thanks to a host of advanced metrics displayed on MoneyPuck, we may have an answer.

First, the basics. Going strictly by the boxcars (goals against average and save percentage), none of our three…