NHL players are refining the art of the bank shot
More forwards are trying to score off goalies rather than just around them
Off the goaltender's mask, off a defenceman's back, nothing but net. Well, at least in the net.
That is how Colorado's Casey Mittelstadt got his first goal of the NHL playoffs this year, and it is not the only one. Several players have scored by ricocheting the puck in off a goalie's head, including Dallas' Evgenii Dadonov against Vegas earlier this week.
It is an art that is becoming more and more refined as skaters find ways to score against the best netminders in the world. Sniping goals in from near-impossible angles — Mario Lemieux was remarkable at it — is now common and even expected for NHL forwards. Maybe banking shots in off a goalie's mask was the inevitable next step in a league that saw its first “Michigan” — the lacrosse-style goal done from behind the net — only in 2019.
“Some guys seem to be really good at it,” Rangers forward Jimmy Vesey said. “It seems like some guys are starting to perfect it.”
Goalies say they have learned to expect it, or at least not get salty about pucks intentionally directed at their noggins, a notable concern in hockey as the league has taken steps to cut down on concussions and other head injuries.
“You've got to be prepared for anything,” Washington's Charlie Lindgren said. “You see shooters are so good now where all they need is the smallest little corner.”
Mittelstadt's goal, batted out of the air, clanked off the front of the mask of Winnipeg's Connor Hellebuyck, one of the league's best goalies, off Jets defenceman Brenden Dillon and into the net.
“Interesting way,” he said. “I haven't scored very many like that in my life, but (I will) definitely take it, for sure.”
After Dadonov shot from a bad angle off the mask of the Golden Knights' Logan Thompson in the Stars' Game 4 victory, Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger theorized that half the goals this time of year are about just getting the puck on net and hoping you get a good bounce.
“Just throw pucks at the net and you're going to score dirty goals like that in the playoffs,” said Oettinger, who also made two big saves with his mask in winning Game 5.
Colorado counterpart Alexandar Georgiev speaks for his masked brethren when he says he doesn't mind when opponents take aim for the back of his helmet in games. That is just part of the deal.
If Avalanche players do it in practice? Not so cool.
“Guys are really good here with trying to avoid the mask in practice, at least,” Georgiev said. “When it's the game, it's part of the game. It doesn't bother me. The equipment is pretty good, luckily.”
Georgiev, whose team is pursuing its second championship in three years, has tried different mask brands over the years, settling on a commonly used heavier Bauer model with “no complaints” when it comes to safety.
“It works great,” he said. “I feel the one I'm using now is very solid and blocks the shots pretty good. You don't feel the impact that much.”
Dallas's Jason Robertson tried to beat Thompson with a shot off his mask in Game 1 of their series. In hindsight, he wishes he would have tried something different. That's because it's so rare to score that way.
“When you just have time, pick your head up, see if it can happen,” Robertson said. “I think goalies understand. It's tough now . ... The goalies are good.”
Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'amour said Thursday he feels “really good” that he will reach a new contract with the team, mirroring optimism from president and GM Don Waddell a day earlier.
Brind'amour, considered by many the face of the franchise with his long-running ties here that include being the captain of the 2006 Stanley Cup winner, is in the final year of a deal reached in 2021.
His status has become a talking point around the league with multiple jobs open as Carolina prepared to face the Rangers in the second round of the NHL playoffs.
In an interview earlier this week with The News and Observer of Raleigh, team owner Tom Dundon said he thought the two sides were “just getting through the last little stuff.”
Brind'amour, 53, arrived in Raleigh in a January 2000 trade from Philadelphia and played here until his retirement in 2010. He then spent seven seasons as an assistant coach before taking over as a firsttime head coach in 2018.
At the time, he proclaimed “I bleed Hurricane red” — then went about turning Carolina into a perennial winner.
Brind'amour is six-for-six in getting the Hurricanes to the playoffs after the franchise went nine years without a post-season berth. Carolina has twice reached the Eastern Conference final in the past five seasons and ranked second in the NHL over the last four combined regular seasons in points and points percentage behind only Boston.