When it comes to stopping a shooter in a single -on -one situation, NHL goalies are better than they were.
In recent years, the percentage of the whole league has fallen-in this season in 2019–2020 to 0.900 to 0.90 to 0.900-like, offensive strategies will improve, and shooters will find ways to defeat the goalkeeper using screens, deflections and gaming backdoors. Bitting the goalkeeper with a clean shot became incredibly difficult.
Listen to the dressing room conversations after the team is closed. You hear Parrot players and coaches the same reasons for lack of goals.
“We needed more bodies in front of the net.”
“We did not get enough in the eyes of the goalkeeper.”
“Goalkeepers are too good today. If they see the shot, they stop it.”
These commonly used phrases are true to some extent. Modern goalkeepers are so good skaters that they are usually in an excellent position and shoots shooters very little nets. They have trained all their lives, specializing in reading shots, so something really exceptional is needed to get the puck around them when they have their legs and clear vision of the shot.
In response to today’s elite shooters, they are looking for ways to use these goalies. They picked up on the tracks that the goalkeepers use to predict the shooting places, and then provide NetMinder false information in an effort to deceive. Being an elite scorer becomes less about who can shoot the puck the hardest or even the most accurate, and more about who can hide their real intentions and mistake opposition with deception.
We will look at the specific examples of these fine acts of fraud and why they are so effective, by exploring four of the smartest target centers: Sidney Crosby, Nikita Kucherov, William Nylander and Kyle Connor.
First, it is important to understand how goalkeepers react to shots. The term “lightning reflexes” is often overestimated. Yes, these netmings have an exceptional reaction time, but the human body has restrictions. AND Harvard University Study They have shown that the average time of person’s reaction is 220 milliseconds and the average response time to recognition is 384 milliseconds.
A shot of 80 km / h from a point (55 feet from the net) reaches a goalkeeper in less than 470 milliseconds. The shot of the same speed from the center of the slot (20 feet from the net) reaches the goalkeeper for 170 milliseconds.
This means that the goalkeeper has no time to see where the puck is shot, and then respond to his flight. Most of the time they read the body of the shooter and hold the blade to predict where the shot is going. After seeing thousands and thousands of shots during their lives, the goalkeepers will become incredible, giving the illusion that they really respond to the puck. The truth is that if the shooter simulated a shot without a real puck, the goalkeeper would still know where the “shot” is heading in most cases.
At this goal, Crosby scored on March 11, took the way to see the gold knight goalkeeper Ilya Samsonov read the blade his chopsticks and used it in his favor.
Crosby is as crafty as they come and has enough time and space in this game. The fallacy is so gentle that it is difficult to notice it without slow motion, but watch Crosby open his blade just before the shot is released. Everything about this edition tells Samson that Crosby is likely to shoot high on the block of the blocker, but with a rapid movement of his wrist, Crosby is at the last minute to shrink the tip of his blade and a low shot just inside the Samson left skate.
If you look carefully, you can even see the Sams blocker tears on his right side, expecting the shot to go. The smaller weight transmission that the goalkeeper does when leaning into the blocker means that his opposite leg will usually be slower to get on the ice, and therefore Crosby fired to the short side. It is simply a looking target, with a lot of happening under the surface.
Kucherov uses a similar form of fraud, especially on fractures. This goal scored against penguins 12.
Kučerov fans his wand open, very much like Crosby in the previous clip, and does not close the tip up to half the release. Because the change is so late, it regularly lets the goalkeeper blink their blockers out to their side, only for Kučerov to wave the puck inside, under the armpit, as Tristan Žarry does in this game.
The initial decion that pulled out the puck outside his body is essential because it gets the goalkeeper off the angle. When Kucherov had a puck in front of him, Jarry was perfectly at an angle with a line from the puck to the center of the net, which ran directly through the center of his chest. This changed quickly when Kucherov pulled the puck out and gave the shooter an advantage.
You can see how much space is on the short side after Kučerov pulls the puck outside, and that’s probably why the goalkeeper throws his blocker so aggressively when he shoots. They may feel that they are outside the angle and expect the puck to go between their blocker and the mail. Instead of shooting this opening, Kucherov expects another goalkeeper and shoots where he will be open.
The night before that he pulled the same move against the goalkeeper of Devils Jacob Markstrom. Markstrom aggressively stabs its blocker, just to Kučerov tuck the puck into it with its late fingers.
Kucherov managed this trick to the point where he feels almost unfair to the goalkeeper. It’s his go-it to move after fractures. Part of what is so effective is its speed. Few players approach these situations at the speed Kucherov does, which is more difficult for the goalkeeper to read it.
Here the score on Columbus’ Elvis Merzlikins and Philadelphia’s Ivan Fedototova with the same step on March 4 and 17 March. It is no coincidence that each of these goalies will excessively expand their blocker. Kucherov hired them with a slight handling of his blade, combined with the fact that Deke gets a goalkeeper from their angle.
There is a reason why Kučerov according to its expected metrics of goals in nine of the last 10 seasons, according to which Evolving hockey. The expected models of the targets are based on how often players scored on the shot due to the location and several other factors, but does not take into account the skills of shooting that Kucherov has in abundance.
Elite shooters use more than just a blade for storing goals. Maple Leafs star Nylander dupated Netminders with a digging movement that he uses quite often. Here is the fact that he uses a tall kick with the foot of the trails on this winner overtime against Devils 16.
This step is not unique to Nylander. It is a standard shot off-nog with left foot (in the case of Nylander because it has a right-handed) hiking to the air to get the lever effect and add speed to the striking shot. It is a technique that is usually used in skating in a step because it allows faster relaxation and more often than not, is used on high shots, such as the one that Nylander beat Markstrom.
Here it is becoming difficult. Nylander realized that the goalkeepers were reading off-nog shots, and now it is starting to rotate against them. On this goal – who also came against New Jersey – Nylander kicks his foot up, but shoots the puck along the ice.
You can see how the goalkeeper of Devils Jake Allen reacts as if the shot went high. Nylander not only kicks his leg, his following mimics a high shot. If Allen read correctly that it would be a low shot, he would throw his knees on the ice and sealed the butterfly. Instead, it reaches its gloves out and its left pad is late to seal, and that’s exactly where the Nylander scores.
Connor has another excellent season up in Winnipeg. It is one of the most underestimated shooters in the league, with at least 30 goals in all eight of its entire NHL seasons (except for the shortened season 2020-21, when it almost hit the brand).
The largest weapon Connor is a ridiculously quick edition that is difficult for goalkeeper to read. It uses CCM Ribcor Stick with P92 “Sakic” curve, named after the Famer Joe Sakic avalanche hall. It is the most famous rod curve and the most popular among NHL players, with a little open fingers that support higher shots.
One of the greatest keys for Connor is 85 flex in wands. It’s not the smallest NHL stick, but it’s on a more flexible side. This allows him to whip the puck at high speed without inserting a ton of weight or pressure into the stick. His upright shooting style gives the goalkeepers a small warning that a shot is coming, and regularly catches them out of sight.
He did it on Monday evening against Vancouver and randomly zipped goalkeeper Canucks Thatcher Demko in the transition.
There is very little to immerse the shoulder or forward before the shot, which makes DEMKO more anticipating. It is also a bit of a rhythm, which is difficult to describe, but it makes a shot feel as if it were based on the goalkeeper. In this case, Connor shoots from his outer (right) leg, which is usually accompanied by a decrease in the upper body when the player jumps from his inside to the outer leg, builds energy and lever effect.
Demko has some of the best feet of any goalkeeper in the NHL, yet Connor still catches him between mixing. Shooting puck only half a rhythm before the goalkeeper expects to change it.
Connor also uses more apparent forms of fraud to maximize his quick relaxation and grab the goalkeeper out of sight, such as this shot without the appearance deceived by the goalkeeper San Jose Alexandar Georgiev on December 17th.
Georgiev knows that there are several threats on the back of the game (Cole Perfetti in a low slot and Mark Scheifele near the far column), so he is already aware of the crossing line. When Connor looks at the center of the ice when he puts his wand on the shot, he clearly throws away the goalkeeper. Georgiev does not cheat position by comparing along its goal line. It is still square to the puck, but moves its weight to the left leg to prepare for lateral explosion through the fold in the case of the pass.
For this reason, when Connor shoots high on the short side, Georgiev causes a embarrassing looking sting on a glove puck without falling into the butterfly. The reason why the attempt to rescue looks so strange is that Georgevian weight transmission is not where this would normally be caused by the threat of the pass, amplified by Connor’s head false.
With the skill and intelligence of a modern goalkeeper, the shooters are increasingly relying on illumination. The days of liquidation and tear of shots around the goalkeeper at total speed are long gone. Side passing games, deflections and screens will still be the most effective way, but when the shooter faces goalkeeper Mano Mano, he is a king.
(Illustration: Will Tullos / Athletic;; Photos: Mark Lomoglio, Mark Blinch, Daniel Bartel, Jaylynn Nash / Getty Images)
