Two Takeaways From Watching Our Favorite Goalies in the First Round
Photo Credit: Sporting News
This year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs have been nothing short of exciting. While the first round was fun to watch, the competition across the series in the second round has heightened. Each of the four remaining series is tight, and there won’t be any sweeps like we saw in the Rangers/Capitals series in the first round. But what has been most interesting from our point of view, is what we can learn as goaltenders evaluating the goalie play from the first round and a half of playoffs so far.
We previously published an article about our favorite goalies to watch in this year’s playoffs, and what tools you can learn from each of them. If you’re interested in reading that for further context, you can find that article here. . Some of the goalies on our original list have been great, but many have been “average”, or have even been swapped out for different games depending on their play. Sorokin, for example, didn’t even start the series for the Islanders. Rather, Head Coach Patrick Roy chose Varlomov to lead it off. Once Sorokin finally did get in, he was pulled in the 2nd Period, with Varlomov replacing him in net.
Observing the best goalies in the world endure struggle like this has led us to two big takeaways:
It’s great to have two very good goalies on your team.
You will have ups and downs. How you manage them will determine your success.
Let’s unpack both of these and distill how this helps our game, starting with the first one.
It’s Great to Have Two Very Good Goalies on Your Team
There have been a lot of teams in this year’s playoffs playing two goaltenders. Of those still remaining in playoffs, Carolina, Boston, and Edmonton have had two goalies share minutes, while Vancouver has had three different goalies in net for them thus far.
As a goalie, you want to play. You want to be in the net, naturally. But having a great goalie partner that you may share minutes with benefits you for many reasons, even if you are not the one in net.
Your team will have greater success— This one is obvious. But a team with two good goalies is far more confident than a team with one. If one of the goalies gets hurt, the other one can step right in and play. Your team is always in a great position to win, no matter who is in net. Vancouver is a good example of this— all three of their goalies who have played in playoffs so far have won games. If your team has greater success, so will you whenever you are in net.
You stay fresh— Managing energy over the course of a hockey season can be tough. The season is long. Playing games is tough on the body, of course. But as goalies, it’s incredibly mentally and emotionally draining as well. This is where having two good goalies benefits the team, and benefits both goalies— the coach can manage their energy, and both can stay fresh for the duration of the season, especially down the stretch. Being physically, mentally, and emotionally energized in playoffs will give you and your team the best chance to play well and win when it counts.
You will improve faster— It’s hard to name any one of these points the most important, but for longevity and meeting your career goals, this one probably is. When you have a goalie partner who is good, you will constantly push each other to get better. Although this can be in a competitive form with who’s making more saves in practice, that’s not the main way this happens. When you have a good goalie partner, you have a goalie to learn from every day. Maybe they have something in their game you want to add to yours, and you have the same for them. Maybe you pick up on work habits they have and add them to your daily routine. You also have someone who understands what you do, and who supports you like no one else can, because no one else on your team understands what it’s like to be a goalie. One of the most valuable benefits you have with a good goalie partner is someone to bounce your ideas off of. You may chat with them about the best way to play certain situations. Or, you may vent your frustrations to them about a particular game or goal against. Doing so will allow you to approach the next game or situation with a clear mind. And when you have a clear mind, you will be at your best.
The ultimate goal is to improve as much as possible as fast as possible to help you reach your season and career goals. Having a great goalie partner allows you to do so. Having two great goalies on the team gives it the best chance to reach its goals as well.
You Will Have Ups and Downs. How You Manage Them Will Determine Your Success
Obviously you want to play great all the time. You want to make the big saves and win games for your team every game. The reality is that’s not going to happen—that’s the nature of goaltending. But losing games and failing to make the big save in a game where your team may need it most are not reflections of you as a goaltender. Throughout these playoffs, we have seen the best goalies in the NHL struggle, get pulled, and fail to make a big save at the wrong time. But they are still the best in the world.
It can be incredibly frustrating when you play great one game, and the next have nothing go your way. Things can go great for you and poorly for you in a short span of just a few games, and this is frustrating to deal with. You may want to ask yourself “what did I do differently this game than I did last game that led to a worse result?” “What do I need to change for next game so I play better?” It’s easy to dig and dig at questions like these, looking for answers to them. Assuming that you always prepare the way you should, the answer is that you don’t need to change anything. There is so much within a hockey game that is up to chance. Whether you have a great game or a poor game is determined by mere inches.
When things go wrong in a game, if you dig at what may have happened, all you will do is find reasons why you may not play well the next game, and focus on that. Instead, learn what you can from the game and immediately move on. You have to trust your game, even though you may be experiencing ups and downs.
Trusting your game will put you in the best spot to play well the next game. If you aren’t playing the next game, no worries. Continuing to trust your game anyways will put you right back where you need to be next time you get in there.
We’ve seen goalies in these playoffs struggle at times, but we’ve also gotten to watch how they respond. One goalie who comes to mind is Jeremy Swayman. In Game 2 of the Bruins series versus the Panthers, Swayman was pulled after giving up 4 goals on 19 shots. Game 3 was not much better for him, surrendering 5 goals on 27 shots. But he bounced back in an excellent fashion, stopping 38 of 41 in Game 4, and 28 of 29 in Game 5.
It would have been easy for him to fall apart after being pulled, and after struggling two games in a row, but he didn’t. If he had, he would not have been able to bounce back the way that he did, with stellar performances in the two games that followed.
He didn’t panic. He didn’t think about what he had to do to change his game. Rather, he trusted his game and went into the following games with confidence, and it allowed him to get back to where he wanted to be. It helps that his goalie partner, Linus Ullmark, is a great goaltender and former Vezina winner. They have a great goalie tandem, and both push each other to be better.
It’s fun watching playoff hockey as a fan. But as a goalie, it’s also incredibly interesting seeing the best goalies in the world struggle, and observe how they respond. Their ability to remain resilient in the face of struggle is no small part of what makes them the best at what they do.
