Andersen vs. Vladar goalie matchup in Eastern Conference 2nd Round

Goaltending is an integral part of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. To better understand the strengths and weaknesses of each goaltender, NHL.com charted 100 goals against each goaltender late in the regular season and through the first round of the postseason to see the patterns that emerge. Here is the comparison between Dan Vladar of the Philadelphia Flyers and Frederik Andersen of the Carolina Hurricanes, who meet in the Eastern Conference Second Round.

The Eastern Conference Second Round between the Carolina Hurricanes and Philadelphia Flyers features one goalie who just proved he still deserves the playoff starter status of years past and another who cemented that position with his new team.

Carolina incumbent Frederik Andersen left little doubt he was the right choice ahead of first-year NHL revelation Brandon Bussi by giving up five goals in a four-game sweep of the Ottawa Senators in the first round. First-year Flyers No.1 Dan Vladar proved his impressive initial season in an NHL starting job was no fluke by matching it with two shutouts in a six-game elimination of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round.

There are style and strength similarities between Andersen and Vladar, but the team that can identify and attack any weaknesses may have the best chance in this best-of-7 series, which begins at Lenovo Center on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, SN, TVAS).

Frederik Andersen

Carolina Hurricanes

Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour indicated before the playoffs that he could use each of his goalies in the first round after Bussi’s breakout led to split starts most of the season. Andersen made sure there was no need, with a .955 save percentage sparking memories of his exceptional play through two rounds last postseason. If they do switch now, it will likely be due to fatigue for the 36-year-old. There were signs of it during the second overtime in Game 2, and Bussi’s aggressive, unpredictable approach would provide a very different look. So far, Andersen’s more controlled, conservative game is all they need.

Breakaway dekes: Andersen gave up 21 “breakaway” goals in the regular-season sample of 100 goals, and while that includes partial breakaways and even some 1-on-1 chances in zone, it’s more than double the 10.2-percent average for more than 10,000 goals tracked for this project since 2017. Clearly some of that is the Hurricanes giving up 71 such chances on Andersen, third most in the NHL, but there are trends worth noting. Though the obvious shooting targets are high glove (six goals), especially since he uses a lower “handshake” glove position, Andersen does a nice job of matching speed on long breakaways and forcing players to deke if they want to score. Dekes accounted for 13 of those 21 goals, and only two of those were put back between the five-hole. The Ottawa Senators only got part of that memo, evidently; they tried to finish all five 1-on-1 chances with dekes between Andersen’s pads, which are shorter than with most goalies, and failed to convert on any.

Work from down low: Andersen gave up 22 goals on plays and passes across the middle of the ice, which is slightly below the 22.1-percent average, but 16 came below the hash marks. That includes some of the 23 goals on plays from below the goal line or bottom of the face-off circles, two trends that stress the importance of attacking low. The trend continued in the first round, with three of the five goals coming on plays that forced him to work into and off his posts, including his only clean-shot goal of the series on a rush shot off the right wing by Senators forward Dylan Cozens from just above the bottom of the circles that appeared to catch him preparing to transition into his post and ended up going under the pads.

Elevate on low laterals: Though Andersen sometimes squares up on rush chances and plays out of the corner in a way that increases the rotation and distance required to push across on passes across the middle of the ice, he tends to use good play-reading and neutral positioning to give himself a chance to at least get his backside pad across. So it’s important to elevate quick shots on the other end of those low plays. Ottawa forward Brady Tkachuk failed to do so on a back-door chance to win Game 2 in the first overtime, and Andersen got just enough of it with the edge of his pad to keep the game going.

Back the other way: Against-the-grain breakaway shots accounted for 34.5 percent of last season’s tracked goals, and while the total was down to 28 percent this season, that’s still well above the 18.5-percent average and two of five goals in the first round were off those types of chances. Off the rush, Andersen can get a little flat with his backward flow at times, which leaves the back shoulder off angle as shooters get deeper into the zone, something that can be exacerbated by his conservative depth. Add in a tendency to hold his blocker lower and it’s not a shock four of five clean goals were high to that side coming down the opposite wing. It is also possible to catch him moving. He has a tendency to slide a bit more on passes to the faceoff dots and below than many of his peers. It leaves him susceptible to quick plays and passes in the other direction.

Blocker side? Seeing four of five goals in the playoffs so far go in blocker side might raise an eyebrow but it wasn’t as if the Senators were targeting that side with their clean looks, even if some of the regular season tracking suggests it might be a good idea.

Get out on the rush: The numbers aren’t as lopsided as three seasons ago, when 64 percent of tracked goals came from rush chances, but at 45 percent this season, Andersen was still well more than the 35-percent average behind a Carolina team that didn’t surrender a lot of shots but does tend to give up good looks in transition. That number was down to 35.7 percent of the chances in the first round, and Andersen only gave up the one goal between the pads on the somewhat routine shot from Cozens off the wing.

Dan Vladar

Philadelphia Flyers

Vladar came into these playoffs with two previous playoff appearances and finished the first round with his first two postseason shutouts, including 42 saves in a 1-0 series-clinching overtime win in Game 6. He finished the series with a .937 save percentage, building on an excellent first season as a No.1 that included NHL career highs in starts (51) and wins (29) using a balanced tactical approach that should continue to serve him well.

Make him work off posts: Low-high plays and passes originating from below the goal line or from sharp angles below the bottom of the face-off circles factored into an alarming 40 percent of the tracked goals, more than double the 17.1-percent average in the regular season. That trend continued in the first round. They certainly didn’t all look the same, but six of the 10 goals by the Pittsburgh Penguins involved a low-high element that forced Vladar to transition into, or off, his posts. That includes a rebound goal by Penguins center Evgeni Malkin in Game 1 and even the shot by defenseman Kris Letang shot that bounced off the end boards wide and somehow banked in off the back of Vladar’s leg in Game 5. During the regular season, factors included pop passes, cross-ice passes from below the goal line, and Flyers defenders screening Vladar after a pass into the middle. Shooting trends included one-timers and against-the-grain shots that caught him still moving. There was also a tendency for Vladar to be active with his stick trying to cut off passes on plays in tight, something puck carriers need to be aware of, but it can delay his ability to get out and across and cover the far side of the net.

Elevate in tight: Philadelphia doesn't give up a lot of breakaways, so it’s important to take advantage of those rare one-on-one opportunities. Pittsburgh failed to convert five such chances while not getting one shot above Vladar’s pads. That includes four dekes and three chances in Game 6, when a goal would have extended the series. As forward Bryan Rust found out a couple times, Vladar’s compete, length and flexibility make it difficult to beat him low, even after a strong deke, re-enforcing the importance of elevating in tight.

Color around the edges in traffic: Vladar forces you to beat him with good shots by playing a contained game in his crease. It allows him to beat most side-to-side plays and leaves him scrambling less than many peers. He doesn’t take himself out of plays early and it’s reflected in how rarely teams are able to tap pucks into an empty net outside either pad. Of those 17 goals, 11 came off rebounds and just five were off low, lateral passes across the middle of the ice. It also shows in fewer goals -- 14 total -- off broken plays. The three goals along the ice against Pittsburgh included one on a puckhandling giveaway behind his own net and a back-and-forth sequence on the power play that led to a tap-in goal after two quick passes. Like most things in goaltending, however, there is a give and take with that approach, and it shows up in more exposure on screens (21 goals during the season and three in the first round) and other plays that force him into more of a blocking mode. It leaves more room for the higher-than-average goal totals over each glove.

Against the grain: Shots and plays against the flow of play accounted for 26 percent of the goals tracked in the regular season, well above the 18.4-percent average, and two of 10 in the first round. They included clean looks and quick shots higher in the zone. Vladar’s more conservative positioning creates more open-net looks and he has a tendency to be a little flat rather than squared to shooters.

High glove? Six of the clean-look goals from further out in the regular season were actually scored high on the blocker side, and six more were scored low on the glove side, compared to two over the glove and three low blocker. But four of 12 rebound goals in that sample came on pucks that popped out of Vladar's glove on high-shot save attempts. Center Sidney Crosby's one-timer on the power play went in off his glove on a clean look in Game 4, and he waved the glove at the high Letang shot that bounced in off the boards.