Good as Goldobin: Has winger turned the corner?
Goldobin’s play this year inspired at times, exasperating at others, writes BenKuzma.
Nikolay Goldobin performance assessments are like going to the doctor.
The physician will tell you everything that’s right and what requires immediate attention.
However, when Travis Green gave the polarizing Vancouver Canucks winger a clean bill of hockey health on Monday night — his goal and an assist against the powerful Winnipeg Jets made it nine points in the past 11 games and a team-leading 10 assists — it was a short but memorable postgame summation.
“You know what? I thought Goldy moved his feet tonight,” Green said. “It’s hard to say you like guys’ games in a 6-3 loss, but I thought he was pretty good.”
Pretty good is a good indication that Goldobin may be finally turning a competitive corner with 13 points (3-10) in his first 23 games despite a paltry 6.8 per cent shooting percentage with the team’s third-highest shot output.
The Canucks didn’t practise Tuesday before leaving on a three-game California swing that opens against the Anaheim Ducks tonight and Goldobin didn’t have to address his sudden ascent.
His reaction probably would have been “good” and “I can get better,” because he prefers to let his play do the talking.
Part of the improvement is his union with rookie sensation Elias Pettersson. Part of it is making better decisions with the puck to buy time and space to either find linemates or unleash good shots from good locations.
And part of it always has been the understanding that you won’t last in this league unless you’re as good without the puck as you can be with it.
Pettersson’s persistence and three-zone awareness has done more for Goldobin than any whiteboard instruction or video breakdown. The mercurial Russian has a natural skill set, but also had a penchant to wait for passes rather than chasing down pucks and doing the dirty work.
A year ago, he purposely played the penalty kill with the Utica Comets for the first time in his young pro career to drive home that point before being recalled. However, nothing grabs your attention more than a linemate selling out on every shift.
On Monday, Goldobin started the passing sequence with good hustle on Pettersson’s powerplay goal. He was then the recipient of a flubbed Tyler Myers outlet pass that he picked off in the slot because the Winnipeg Jets defenceman was being hounded by Pettersson.
Goldobin then went hard to the net and with a backhand deke, the Canucks found themselves in a game despite being outshot 33-16 after two periods. The reaction said it all as Goldobin punched the air in celebration.
It was the culmination of an impressive spurt that was sparked on a recent six-game road trip. And that eastern sojourn has been the most meaningful segment of his 73 career games with the Canucks.
It started in Detroit with five shots, seven attempts and starting the passing sequence on a Pettersson goal. It continued in Boston with two assists and in a matinee at Buffalo, the 23-yearold Moscow native put in his best first period of the season.
Goldobin hadn’t scored since the season opener and the pressure was clearly evident. He had a pair of Grade A scoring chances in the first frame — including a lightning-quick release from a sharp angle — and even had a take-away. Goldobin missed the net with two second-period chances and would finish with three shots and seven attempts.
He also made the kind of miscues that drive Green crazy.
He failed to keep the puck in at the offensive blue-line to kill a strong shift by his line. He then tried a tricky cross-ice breakout pass in his own zone that was picked off for a scoring chance.
“There are times when we harp on certain parts of his game, but he does bring an offensive side,” Green said. “But you can’t just keep talking about offence, you’ve got to put some numbers on the board. He’s got to find a way.”
And he did.
In Madison Square Garden, Goldobin seemed to find another creative gear.
On a telling sequence, he exited the penalty box, sped down the wing and when he moved in on Neal Pionk, he first drew the puck back. And when the defenceman slid by him, it gave the winger enough time to go far side on Henrik Lundqvist. It was impressive. So was the celebration.
“It was nice and I just threw the monkey off my back,” Goldobin said of his animated antics.
The goal not only made up for an earlier giveaway, Goldobin came back on the power play and tried the same tact. On the power play, he hesitated slightly before releasing a wrist shot off the iron.
However, two minor penalties — especially one late in the third period — didn’t sit well with Green because the teaching part of the game never goes away to get the best out of Goldobin.
“It’s a bit of give-and-take,” summed up Green. “We’re looking for a complete game.”
And that’s never going to change. Not in Green’s world. And not in Goldobin’s ongoing maturation.