GDB Game Notes: Oilers Goalies

The most pleasant surprise through the first ten games of the season has been the play of @Mikko Koskinen and @Mike Smith. The duo has been fantastic, posting a combined .929sv%. The only rough game — five goals against the @Los Angeles Kings — was when Mike Smith gifted the Kings two goals when he mishandled the puck. But when he was between the pipes, he was solid in that game like he has been in his other five starts.

Koskinen has been outstanding, with a 4-0 record and a .934sv%. He looks fresh and has made some technical changes that have helped him.

1. “His movement looks tighter,” said Kevin Woodley from In Goal Magazine when I asked what changes he has seen in Koskinen’s play. “His rotation in his movements looks better and that allows him to do what he wasn’t doing last year, and be set and square and not be sliding as much. He has made a lot of plays on his edges and has stayed up on his skates a lot more than he did last year.”

2. I asked Woodley to expand on Koskinen being on his edges more. What has led to this?

“We talked last year about him being so low and wide in his stance, and I think when you get locked in low and wide it becomes a lot easier to slide laterally, rather than to push laterally up on your skates whether it is a shuffle of a T-push. The lower you get the more natural tendency is to drop that knee and push across sliding. Certainly there are times and situations on the ice where you need to do that, but I thought last year he went to it a little earlier than you’d like to. He isn’t doing that this season.”

3. Changing to a more narrow stance is more challenging for tall goalies said Woodley.

“My question was: could he improve that (stay higher on edges)? As a tall goalie, it is not like he can play a really narrow stance and upright. And that makes that change that much tougher. He has done a nice job of finding a balance. He hasn’t narrowed up as much like other goalies around the league, not to the same extreme, but he has done a really nice job of pushing from his stance and not default to going down. This takes a lot of energy and to be able to play like this he must have improved his overall strength,” said Woodley.

4. Koskinen worked a lot on his conditioning a lot this summer. He hired Kobe Bryant’s former personal trainer. Koskinen wasn’t in bad shape, but he wanted to get stronger and leaner. The changes in his physique were noticeable the first time I saw him. His increased strength and cardio has allowed him to be more set-square and on his edges more.

5. Woodley also pointed out another technical improvement he has noticed in Koskinen.

“The rotation when he does push across has also improved. Instead of pushing across flat, he is coming over the top. What I call top-down movement. The head turns, the torso turns and then you push. You add those elements together and that is why we are seeing his early season success.

6. Has Woodley seen any differences in Smith’s game?

” A little more balance on his posts. He plays deep in his net and that won’t change, but the key is keeping him over his knees and not having him get spread out. When he starts reaching and he ends up on his belly. He has such length and extension he is able to make saves like that, but it’s not how you want him to play.

“It is a matter of finding practice habits to eliminate that from his game, and allow him to move into shots and stay on his knees rather than stretch out and fall over his belly. To me he has done a good job of staying balanced and part of that is post play. When you play so deep you can get really flat on your posts, but he hasn’t fallen into that trap. He looks smooth in all elements. I wouldn’t say it is a difference, but more we are seeing the good Mike Smith that we saw in the second half of last year. He is trusting his reads so when he makes his movements it is in control and there is less reaching.

“I would imagine some of the biomechanics that allow him to stay over his knees and not get spread out are some of the things Dustin Schwartz has been preaching and teaching for the past few years in Edmonton. He hasn’t been over-extending on plays.

7. I am far from a goalie expert, but I wonder how much benefit Smith and Koskinen are getting from having more extended practice time. Smith started the first two games, then Koskinen started two, then Smith had two more, followed by Koskinen with another two and Smith just played the past two games. This rotation has allowed both of them ample practice time between starts to refine their habits.

Smith started on October 2nd, 5th, 12th, 14th, 20th and 22nd. Koskinen started October 8th, 10th, 16th and 18th and likely starts tonight. After two starts they have had five or six days off, and in that time they had more practice time to focus on specific drills to keep their game sharp. Last year when Koskinen started 26 of the final 32 games he has very little practice time. He was never able to reset and we saw him struggle. Putting players in positions to succeed is a major element of coaching that I believe gets overlooked. Don’t ask them to be more than they are.

8. So the question is: What are realistic expectations for Koskinen and Smith the rest of the way? I went back and looked at the goaltending numbers in the eight years Dave Tippett coached Arizona. The system a team plays in front of a goalie will undoubtedly impact their numbers. Tippett’s defensive scheme has historically been fairly sound, and we have seen noticeable differences with Edmonton’s D zone play this year. Mainly how they break out, which means less time in the D zone, which automatically makes life easier for goalies.

2010: Ilya Brzygalov 69 starts with a .920sv%
Jason Labarbera 13 starts with a .928sv%
They stopped 2231 of 2420 shots for a team sv% of .921.

2011: Brzygalov 67 starts with a .921sv%
Labarbera 15 starts with a .909sv%
Stopped 2453 of 2670 shots for a team sv% of .918.

2012: Mike Smith had 67 starts with a .930sv%
Labarbera made 14 starts with a .909sv%
Curtis McElhinney had one start with a .944sv%
Stopped 2389 of 2588 shots for a team sv% of .926.

2013: Smith made 34 starts with a .910sv%
Labarbera had 10 starts with a .923sv%
Chad Johnson had four starts with a .954sv%
Trio stopped 1343 of 1464 shots for a team sv% of .917.

2014: Smith with 61 starts and a .915sv%
@Thomas Greiss had 20 starts with a .920sv%
Mark Visentin made one start with a .906sv%
They stopped 2317 of 2529 shots for a combined sv% of .916.

2015: Smith had 62 starts and a .904sv%
@Devan Dubnyk had 16 starts and a .916sv%
@Louis Domingue made four starts with a .911sv%
They stopped 2455 of 2798 shots for a combined sv% of .906.

2016: Domingue had 36 starts with a .916sv%
Smith made 34 starts with a .912sv%
@Anders Lindback had 13 starts with a .894sv%
Niklas Treutte made one start with a .750sv%
This group stopped 2296 of 2526 shots for a team sv% of .908.

2017: Smith made 55 starts with a .914sv%.
Domingue had 26 starts with a .908sv%.
@Justin Peters made one start with a .900sv%
This trio stopped 2539 of 2785 shots for a combined sv% of .912.

Over his eight years in Arizona Tippett’s teams averaged .916sv% per season.

At the start of the season I felt a .912sv% was realistic for the Oilers. Based on the start, that might be a bit low. If the Oilers duo can finish between .915-.920sv% then the Oilers will be right in the playoff mix.

9. @Washington Capitals defenceman @John Carlson is leading the NHL in scoring. No NHL defender has led the league in scoring three weeks into the season since Bobby Orr in 1975. He also led the league at this time in 1970 as did Baldy Northcott in 1933 (what a great name, by the way). Carlson is on an incredible run with 20 points in eleven games. He has 14 EV points and six on the PP. Since the start of the 2017/2018 season, Carlson is now tied with @Brent Burns for the most points by a D-man with 158. Morgan Reilly is third with 135, @Victor Hedman is fourth with 125 and @Keith Yandle is fifth with 121. Carlson has emerged as the most dangerous offensive D_man in the NHl. He is a must-watch player right now.

10. Capitals centre @Nicklas Backstrom registered his 649th assist in Tuesday’s victory in Calgary. That moves him into fifth place all time among Swedish-born players, trailing Nick Lidstrom (878 assists), Henrik Sedin (830), Mats Sundin (785) and Daniel Alfredsson (713).

11. Since entering the NHL in 2007/2008, Backstrom has accumulated the most assists in the NHL ahead of Sidney Crosby (633), Joe Thornton (619) and Ryan Getzlaf (606).

12. @Connor McDavid leads the NHL in assists since he entered the NHL in 2015/2016, with 256. Blake Wheeler is second with 242 followed by @Patrick Kane and @Nikita Kucherov (235).

13. Tonight is the 77th meeting all-time between the Oilers and Capitals. Edmonton is 31-35-4-6 (ties), but they are 20-13-1-4 at home.

14. If you think you are always watching the Capitals in Edmonton early in the year, you are correct. This is the seventh consecutive season their one appearance in Edmonton has come in October.

October 25th, 2018. Oilers won 4-1
October 28th, 2017. Oilers lost 5-2.
October 26th, 2016. Oilers won 4-1.
October 23rd, 2015. Oilers lost 7-4.
October 22nd, 2014. Oilers won 3-2.
October 24th, 2013. Oilers lost 4-1.
Lockout in October 2012.
October 27th, 2011. Oilers won 2-1.

They didn’t come to Edmonton in 2010/2011 season and the last time the Capitals played in Edmonton outside of October was December 19th, 2009. Oilers lost 4-2.

15. These teams have rotated wins in their past eight meetings. Prior to that, the Oilers had won seven consecutive home games against the Caps between February 9th, 1997 to October 28th, 2006.