Taking a look at Nicklas Backstrom's playoff inconsistency, and the opposite from some of his contemporaries.
As the regular season comes to a close, playoff matchups emerging from the fog, and teams preparing for the grind of the NHL's second season, something becomes prevalent in the vernacular of broadcasters, writers, and analysts alike: that goals in the playoffs are harder to come by, and there's a special level to which a player must elevate his game in order to maintain success.
This isn't necessarily true, but the origins of the claim are understandable. Familiarity grows over the course of a four-to-seven game series, and so too does anticipation (and thereby prevention of goals).