Schmid More Comfortable Second Time Around | FEATURE

With less than 10 seconds showing on the clock, the Philadelphia Flyers had one last ditch effort to try to tie the game.
The Flyers trailed New Jersey, 3-2, at Wells Fargo Center Saturday night when Travis Konecny threw the puck blindly toward the Devils crease. Konecny's Flyers teammate Scott Laughton found it below the circle, reached out and backhanded it on goal.
Devils goaltender Akira Schmid squared to the shot and made the save. The rebound landed in the crease and a scramble ensued. Laughton tried to jam at his own rebound, but instead hit Schmid as he fell on top of the netminder. Three Devils players - Ryan Graves, Erik Haula, Jack Hughes - were fighting with Laughton and Joel Farabee, all of whom were in the crease, for the loose puck. Hughes escaped with it and rifled it down the ice as time expired in the Devils' franchise-record 11th straight road win.
"I was pretty much laying down and felt someone cross-checking me in my ribs," Schmid said. "I was down and thinking (to) the puck, 'don't be around the net.' Then when I looked up and saw someone icing the puck and I'm like 'thank god.'"

And with that, the Devils' 22-year-old netminder improved to a perfect 5-0-0 on the season with a 1.42 goals-against average and .949 save percentage.
"It's still only been five games. You just need to find ways to keep going, keeping getting better, keep improving, work on your game," Schmid said. "You try to win every game. If you work hard every day and if you give your team a chance to win then you're doing a good job."
Schmid (6-foot-5, 205 pounds) is certainly doing a good job. It's incredible the difference a year makes. The Swiss goaltender made his NHL debut almost exactly a year ago on Dec. 11 at NY Islanders. The then 21-year-old would make six appearances in the net for New Jersey, going 0-4 with a 4.83 goals-against and .833 save percentage.
"Obviously, you're nervous about it," Schmid recalled of his debut. "Once you're in the game it kind of fades away. Last year, (the nerves) never really went away for me during the year. I was always kind of tense during the games. This is year it's definitely different.
"Last year it was more of a learning experience for me. It obviously didn't go too well for me, but I took a lot from it, learned a lot from it. I saw what it takes to play up here on a regular basis, off the ice, on the ice. It helped me out learning from it."
The difference is clear. Schmid is playing with a lot more confidence and comfortability. That's partially due to his time - if brief - in the NHL, and mostly due to his 38 games played in the American Hockey League with Utica where he went 22-8-5 with a 2.60 goals-against average and .911 save percentage. Those 22 wins tied for seventh in the AHL.
"Going back to Utica, obviously we had a great team last year, which made my stats better, too," Schmid joked. "We had a good run last year, too. It helps when the team plays good in front of you. It makes your job a lot easier, and you can work on your game better."

Amazingly, Schmid made a little history in his debut. He became the first goaltender in history to play in the NHL a year after playing exclusively in the USHL. Schmid starred for the Sioux City Musketeers in 2020-21. He was named the league's Goaltender of the Year after going 22-13-1 while pacing the league in both goals-against average (2.01) and save percentage (.921).
Schmid, a fifth-round pick (136th overall) in 2018, also set a little Devils history by tying for the longest season-opening winning streak for a goalie in Devils/Rockies/Scouts history (Chris Terreri, 5-0-0, 1993-94) - thanks to his 31-save heroics against Philadelphia.
In the waning moments of the victory, instead of feeling the same nerves and anxiety from a year ago, Schmid was cool, calm and victories.
"Feeling comfortable honestly," he said of his progress. "It's not that I was skill-wise terrible last year, more just my confidence and being comfortable. I may have miscalculated half an inch but that makes the difference here. I'd say the speed in the crease and adjusting to shots.
"Main camp was like my first step to feel better and see if the summer worked at all. Thinking back to last year and knowing what's going to come at me, knowing what is coming helps you a lot. You feel more familiar with it."
And, of course, it doesn't hurt Schmid that the Devils have played much better in the defensive zone this season.
"The team is playing great in front of me which helped me right away with confidence and feeding off their energy," Schmid said. "But you have to make a step yourself too to get better, which I feel like I did."